"We all talked to Woodward. It was part of our instructions from the White House," Powell said. He said he had "just a couple of phone calls" from the Washington Post editor.
Powell dismissed Woodward's suggestion that Bush already had made up his mind by Jan. 11 last year to go to war against Iraq and that Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington, Prince Bandar, had been informed of the decision that day.
Asserting that the final decision did not come until March, Powell said he was "intimately familiar with the plan, and I was aware that Prince Bandar was being briefed on the plan" by Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, and General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"I knew as much as anybody," Powell said. "I was included in all of the military planning and preparations."
Asked about his relationship with Cheney -- Woodward wrote that the two were barely on speaking terms -- Powell described their association as excellent.
He also said he did not recall referring to Defense Undersecretary Douglas Feith and other civilian conservatives in the Pentagon loyal to Cheney as the "Gestapo office."
"It is a terrible term to use and it is out of place, completely out of place," Powell said.
On another subject, Powell said one or two countries may follow Spain's lead and withdraw peacekeeping troops from Iraq "based on their own political situation."
Last month, Spain's new Socialist prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, "indicated the troops would be staying through the end of June, which is when they are supposed to come out," Powell said in the interview.
And, Powell said, Zapatero had said that Spanish officials would then examine a UN resolution on peacekeeping if one was ready by then.
"And suddenly, troops are being withdrawn," Powell said, with obvious disappointment with Zapatero's announcement Sunday he was ordering their departure "as soon as possible."
Powell said he expected the United Nations to approve a resolution on peacekeeping before the United States hands over political power to Iraqis on June 30.
Other officials said they expected Honduras to follow Spain out of Iraq.
On the Middle East, Powell said the administration had been stymied on peacemaking until Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon offered to withdraw from Gaza and dismantle four settlements on the West Bank.
Palestinians and other Arabs should seize the opportunity rather than criticize Bush for saying some Jewish population centers might remain on the West Bank in a peace deal, Powell said.
"We are not prejudging or prejudicing the outcome," he said.
But, he said, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei was being undercut by Yasser Arafat, as predecessor Abu Mazen had been before resigning. "The reality is, settlements are going to be removed" and the Palestinians, instead of criticizing, should "make the most of it," Powell said.
