World | USA
Gates' move to Defence crucial to resuscitating US policy in Iraq
President George W. Bush's sudden selection of former CIA Director Robert Gates as defence secretary brings back a member of the team that waged the successful first Gulf War with just two years to resuscitate the faltering US policy in Iraq.
- AP
- Published: 00:00 November 10, 2006
Washington: President George W. Bush's sudden selection of former CIA Director Robert Gates as defence secretary brings back a member of the team that waged the successful first Gulf War with just two years to resuscitate the faltering US policy in Iraq.
Explaining his decision on Wednesday, Bush portrayed Gates as a force of change and a solid leader who will make the necessary adjustments in Iraq - and elsewhere.
Gates' resumé as a government policymaker is not untarnished.
Critics dredged up his 1991 confirmation hearings to be CIA director as evidence he is the wrong man for the job.
Then, he was criticised for missing clues about the impending fall of the Soviet Union and for politicising Cold War intelligence. Those two complaints have also dogged Bush.
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