WASHINGTON (AFP) - Secretary of State Colin Powell, one of the Bush administration`s most respected members abroad, announced his resignation after four years of often-losing policy battles with his hawkish colleagues over Iraq and other issues.
Officials said newly reelected President George W. Bush accepted the resignation of the former top general who directed the 1991 war against Iraq but was only a lukewarm supporter of last year`s invasion to oust Saddam Hussein.
"As we have discussed in recent months, I believe that now that the election is over, the time has come for me to step down as Secretary of State and return to private life," Powell, 67, said in a four-paragraph letter to Bush dated Friday.
Powell sought to play down his decision, telling reporters he and Bush had spoken about for months and "it had always been my intention to serve one term." Officials said his deputy Richard Armitage was likely to leave with him.
The White House announced the departure of three other cabinet members: Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and Education Secretary Rod Paige. Attorney General John Ashcroft and Commerce Secretary Don Evans previously said they were resigning.
But Powell`s leaving created the greatest stir, depriving the administration of a highly regarded voice on the international scene at a time when Bush hoped to mend fences after the Iraq war and revive Middle East peace talks.
There was no immediate word on his successor but US television networks buzzed with speculation the post could go to Bush`s national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, 50, who backed his hard-line approach to global terrorism.
Another name frequently mentioned was UN Ambassador John Danforth, 68, a former Republican senator who was said to have been a top contender to be Bush`s vice presidential running-mate in 2000 before Dick Cheney got the nod.
Powell, the son of Jamaican immigrants who rose to become the highest ranking African American to serve in the US government, said he would stay on until his successor was in place.
Though his resignation was long expected, the timing of the announcement was unexpected, coming amid plans for him to visit the Middle East after the death of Palestinian patriarch Yasser Arafat.
The Palestinians` foreign minister, Nabil Shaath, said Powell would come out to meet with them next week. The State Department confirmed the chief US diplomat`s intention to confer with the new Palestinian leadership, but said no date had been set.
Powell, who was to attend an Asian economic summit in Chile this week, a conference on Iraq in Egypt next week and perhaps a spate of European meetings in December, denied his resignation would affect his diplomacy.
"I expect to act fully as secretary of state until I do leave. I will be working hard until the very, very end," he told reporters at the State Department.
As head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Powell was the military architect of the 1991 Gulf War effort to force Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. He saw a turbulent four years as secretary of state marked by the September 11, 2001 attacks and the Iraq invasion.
Pursuing a pragmatic policy of multilateral diplomacy, he reportedly clashed frequently with administration hardliners such as Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who favored pre-emptive military action.
But he refused to talk publicly about the tensions or his future intentions, repeatedly telling reporters: "I serve at the pleasure of the president."
Many reports said Powell had felt personally wounded after giving a presentation to the UN Security Council on February 5, 2003 on the US case for an invasion of Iraq because of weapons of mass destruction.
No chemical, biological or nuclear weapons programmes have ever been found. Amid widespread chaos in Iraq, Bush has insisted that the March, 2003 invasion was still the right move.
Powell fought in Vietnam and rose to become a four star general and head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993. During the first Gulf War he pressed President George H. W. Bush not to overthrow Saddam, for fear of becoming bogged down in a protracted conflict.

11/15/2004 - 20:04 GMT - AFP