Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
December 5, 2006
Pg. 4
By Bob Deans, Cox Washington Bureau
Washington -- Eager to bring new leadership to the Pentagon and a fresh approach in Iraq, the Senate Armed Services Committee is set to recommend today that former CIA chief Robert Gates be approved to replace Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The full Senate is expected to sign off on Gates for the position as early as Wednesday.
"The senators are just dying to confirm this guy," said Michael Desch, professor of national security studies at Texas A&M University. Gates resigned last month as president of the College Station, Texas, school after Bush nominated him to replace Rumsfeld.
Several senators who opposed Gates as director of the CIA 15 years ago have said they'll back him.
"I think it's likely he'll be confirmed," said one such senator, Carl Levin (D-Mich.), incoming chairman of the armed services committee.
After six years of dealing with Rumsfeld -- and a policy on Iraq that Rumsfeld has acknowledged is flawed -- the Senate is eager to find a suitable replacement, said Stuart Kaufman, professor of political science and international relations at the University of Delaware.
"Bob understands the challenges facing our nation in Iraq," President Bush said at the White House on Nov. 8, when he nominated Gates to replace Rumsfeld the day after voters angered by the war handed Democrats control of Congress.Gates, until then, was part of the raq Study Group, which is slated to unveil its recommendations Wednesday.
The panel is headed by former Secretary of State James Baker, a Republican, and former House International Relations Committee Chairman Lee Hamilton, a Democrat.
They will reportedly suggest that Bush gradually roll the 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq back from front-line fighting, handing over to Iraqi forces a growing share of security responsibilities. They're also expected to recommend that Bush bring Iran and Syria into direct talks about the future of Iraq.
One thing senators will be looking for Tuesday, said Kaufman, is a sign of how receptive Gates might be to those ideas.
"Primarily they're looking to hear recognition about the seriousness of the problem," he said.
Gates, 63, was born in Wichita, Kan. He drove a school bus to pay for his studies at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, where he graduated in 1965. He earned his master's degree at Indiana University the next year, joined the CIA as an analyst and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Air Force.
In 1991, President George Bush nominated Gates to become CIA director. Stormy and protracted hearings followed.
Gates was deputy CIA director when officials in the Reagan administration secretly sold weapons to Iran, in violation of U.S. law, in exchange for the release of U.S. hostages in Lebanon, and used profits from the sale to fund, also illegally, U.S.-backed Contras fighting against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua.
Tara Copp of Cox Newspapers' Washington bureau contributed to this article.
December 5, 2006
Pg. 4
By Bob Deans, Cox Washington Bureau
Washington -- Eager to bring new leadership to the Pentagon and a fresh approach in Iraq, the Senate Armed Services Committee is set to recommend today that former CIA chief Robert Gates be approved to replace Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The full Senate is expected to sign off on Gates for the position as early as Wednesday.
"The senators are just dying to confirm this guy," said Michael Desch, professor of national security studies at Texas A&M University. Gates resigned last month as president of the College Station, Texas, school after Bush nominated him to replace Rumsfeld.
Several senators who opposed Gates as director of the CIA 15 years ago have said they'll back him.
"I think it's likely he'll be confirmed," said one such senator, Carl Levin (D-Mich.), incoming chairman of the armed services committee.
After six years of dealing with Rumsfeld -- and a policy on Iraq that Rumsfeld has acknowledged is flawed -- the Senate is eager to find a suitable replacement, said Stuart Kaufman, professor of political science and international relations at the University of Delaware.
"Bob understands the challenges facing our nation in Iraq," President Bush said at the White House on Nov. 8, when he nominated Gates to replace Rumsfeld the day after voters angered by the war handed Democrats control of Congress.Gates, until then, was part of the raq Study Group, which is slated to unveil its recommendations Wednesday.
The panel is headed by former Secretary of State James Baker, a Republican, and former House International Relations Committee Chairman Lee Hamilton, a Democrat.
They will reportedly suggest that Bush gradually roll the 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq back from front-line fighting, handing over to Iraqi forces a growing share of security responsibilities. They're also expected to recommend that Bush bring Iran and Syria into direct talks about the future of Iraq.
One thing senators will be looking for Tuesday, said Kaufman, is a sign of how receptive Gates might be to those ideas.
"Primarily they're looking to hear recognition about the seriousness of the problem," he said.
Gates, 63, was born in Wichita, Kan. He drove a school bus to pay for his studies at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, where he graduated in 1965. He earned his master's degree at Indiana University the next year, joined the CIA as an analyst and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Air Force.
In 1991, President George Bush nominated Gates to become CIA director. Stormy and protracted hearings followed.
Gates was deputy CIA director when officials in the Reagan administration secretly sold weapons to Iran, in violation of U.S. law, in exchange for the release of U.S. hostages in Lebanon, and used profits from the sale to fund, also illegally, U.S.-backed Contras fighting against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua.
Tara Copp of Cox Newspapers' Washington bureau contributed to this article.