Washington: US Secretary of State Colin Powell on July 2 said the United States was "cursed" with unfair charges of unilateralism, as US officials conceded that hardline stances against the international criminal court (ICC) and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had reopened the allegation.

"Every time we do something that is not in sync with everyone else, we're being accused of unilateralism," Powell said in an interview. "It's a curse that is being tossed our way.

"I'm not going to spend a lot of time defending myself from charges of unilateralism," he said when asked about the resurfacing of such criticism over the US position on Arafat and its veto of the renewal of the UN peacekeeping mission in Bosnia over concerns about the ICC.

"It's a charge that anybody can throw against us any time we do something that is different from what 18 other NATO nations or 14 or 15 EU nations or some group of folks overseas does not consider the right way to go," Powell said. "It's a false charge. It's an easy one to make but one that doesn't stand up to analysis."

Though other officials also adamantly rejected the assertion, they allowed that President Bush and his administration faced uphill diplomatic battles in their quest to oust Arafat and grant immunity from ICC prosecution to UN peacekeepers.

He also referred to the diplomatic initiative in South Asia that led to an easing of tension between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan.

"But we are taking principled stands that we think are in our best interests as well as the best interests of others," the official said. "Now, we just have to convince them of that."

The officials stressed that US friends and allies were consulted in most, if not all, foreign policy decisions and that US diplomats were working overtime in foreign capitals to line up support.

"We realise that we don't operate in a vacuum, so we consult and take these views into consideration, but by definition when the United States makes a decision, it is unilateral," a second official said.

"The process of getting there is not," the official said.

In February, Powell made the same point after broadside attacks on US foreign policy from the then-French foreign minister Hubert Vedrine and senior European Union official Christopher Patten.

"We believe in multilateralism," Powell had said then. "But when it is a matter of principle and when the multilateral community does not agree with us, we do not shrink from doing that which we think is right, which is in our interest, even if some of our friends disagree with us."

Later, Powell famously said Vedrine had been "getting the vapours" and told a British newspaper that he would have to have a "long talk" with Patten.

The rejection of the Kyoto protocol on global warming, coupled with the abandonment of a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty and its insistence on building a national missile shield, appeared to lend credence to the argument.

A decision to suspend talks with North Korea and perceived disengagement in the Middle East also contributed to frustration with Washington abroad.