thedrifter
12-05-06, 07:06 AM
December 05, 2006
Hearing may shed light on Gates’ war views
The Associated Press
President Bush said he nominated Robert Gates to be his next secretary of defense to provide a “fresh perspective” on Iraq, but it’s not clear how the former CIA chief will influence administration policy on the war.
Gates’ confirmation hearing was scheduled Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, after an early morning sendoff from Bush at the White House, with little sign that Democrats, poised to take control of Congress in January, will block his nomination to replace Donald Rumsfeld. In fact, key Democrats are eager to switch Pentagon chiefs as quickly as possible.
Congress and the president are awaiting the recommendations on Wednesday of the Iraq Study Group, the bipartisan commission examining new approaches to the war. Until his nomination, Gates was a member of the commission, which is headed by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind.
As defense secretary, Gates would have to work with a Democratic-led Congress. Reflecting that reality, Sen. John Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee for now, said Bush should solicit privately the opinions of Democrats before forging a new strategy on Iraq.
Warner, in remarks prepared for delivery at the hearing, said the president had a “moral obligation” to U.S. troops in Iraq and their families to seek out the views of Democrats as he considers the Iraq Study Group’s recommendations along with an internal assessment of U.S. options.
“After the president has had the opportunity to review these important reports, I respectfully recommend that he privately consult with the bipartisan leadership of the new Congress before making his final decisions,” Warner said.
A copy of the Virginia senator’s prepared remarks were obtained late Monday by The Associated Press.
Gates, 63, was announced by Bush as his choice to replace Rumsfeld on Nov. 8, the day after congressional elections that were widely interpreted as a vote of no confidence in the administration’s Iraq policy.
Aside from saying in hindsight that he would have done some things differently in Iraq if he had been Pentagon chief, Gates has revealed little about his thinking on new approaches to stabilizing the country.
He wrote in response to questions submitted in advance by the Senate committee that he supported Bush’s decision to invade in 2003 and that leaving Iraq “in chaos” would harm U.S. interests for many years. Beyond that, he has not said how the U.S. might get Iraq moving in the right direction.
At the confirmation hearing, Gates was expected to face questioning on a range of issues, including re-equipping a military strained by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; increasing the size of the Army and Marine Corps; how to approach relations with China, North Korea and Iran, and whether to limit the Pentagon’s dominance in the intelligence arena.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a member of the Armed Services panel, said Monday after meeting with Gates that she was impressed by his emphasis on seeking political consensus on national security issues.
“He seems very open, eager to consult with Congress and perhaps what was most encouraging to me is he spoke about the need for a bipartisan approach to national security,” Collins said.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., in line to become next chairman of the committee, told reporters that although he opposed Gates’ nomination as CIA director in 1991, he is willing to give him a fresh look.
Levin added that he hoped to discern whether Gates was open-minded and willing to offer dissenting views to the president.
“The president needs to have people who are strong in their positions enough to tell him when ... they disagree with him,” Levin said.
Levin was among 31 senators who voted against Gates to become CIA chief in 1991. During that year’s hearings, Gates faced accusations by CIA officials that he manipulated intelligence as a senior analyst in the 1980s in order to support White House policy.
Also, some doubted he had told all he knew about the Iran-Contra scandal, which erupted in 1986 after the Reagan administration secretly sold arms to Iran in hopes of freeing hostages in Lebanon, then used profits from the sales to help the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
Rand Beers, a former intelligence official who served as foreign policy adviser to Sen. John Kerry’s Democratic presidential campaign in 2004, said Monday that Iraq stands out as the issue on which Gates will be judged.
“The secretary of defense must demonstrate a change in course in what is now America’s largest and most immediate security issue, Iraq,” he said. “He must lay out a clear path forward that includes his views on what American troop levels should be.”
Warner said Sunday that he expects the panel to vote on the nomination late Tuesday, followed by debate and a vote by the full Senate on Wednesday. If confirmed, as expected, Gates is likely to be sworn in as the nation’s 22nd secretary of defense in mid-December.
Gates, a native of Wichita, Kan., was the first career CIA analyst to rise to the top of the spy agency, and he spent seven years at the National Security Council, including as the first President Bush’s national security adviser from August 1989 to November 1991, when he took the CIA director’s post.
Since 2002, he has been president of Texas A&M University.
Ellie
Hearing may shed light on Gates’ war views
The Associated Press
President Bush said he nominated Robert Gates to be his next secretary of defense to provide a “fresh perspective” on Iraq, but it’s not clear how the former CIA chief will influence administration policy on the war.
Gates’ confirmation hearing was scheduled Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, after an early morning sendoff from Bush at the White House, with little sign that Democrats, poised to take control of Congress in January, will block his nomination to replace Donald Rumsfeld. In fact, key Democrats are eager to switch Pentagon chiefs as quickly as possible.
Congress and the president are awaiting the recommendations on Wednesday of the Iraq Study Group, the bipartisan commission examining new approaches to the war. Until his nomination, Gates was a member of the commission, which is headed by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind.
As defense secretary, Gates would have to work with a Democratic-led Congress. Reflecting that reality, Sen. John Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee for now, said Bush should solicit privately the opinions of Democrats before forging a new strategy on Iraq.
Warner, in remarks prepared for delivery at the hearing, said the president had a “moral obligation” to U.S. troops in Iraq and their families to seek out the views of Democrats as he considers the Iraq Study Group’s recommendations along with an internal assessment of U.S. options.
“After the president has had the opportunity to review these important reports, I respectfully recommend that he privately consult with the bipartisan leadership of the new Congress before making his final decisions,” Warner said.
A copy of the Virginia senator’s prepared remarks were obtained late Monday by The Associated Press.
Gates, 63, was announced by Bush as his choice to replace Rumsfeld on Nov. 8, the day after congressional elections that were widely interpreted as a vote of no confidence in the administration’s Iraq policy.
Aside from saying in hindsight that he would have done some things differently in Iraq if he had been Pentagon chief, Gates has revealed little about his thinking on new approaches to stabilizing the country.
He wrote in response to questions submitted in advance by the Senate committee that he supported Bush’s decision to invade in 2003 and that leaving Iraq “in chaos” would harm U.S. interests for many years. Beyond that, he has not said how the U.S. might get Iraq moving in the right direction.
At the confirmation hearing, Gates was expected to face questioning on a range of issues, including re-equipping a military strained by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; increasing the size of the Army and Marine Corps; how to approach relations with China, North Korea and Iran, and whether to limit the Pentagon’s dominance in the intelligence arena.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a member of the Armed Services panel, said Monday after meeting with Gates that she was impressed by his emphasis on seeking political consensus on national security issues.
“He seems very open, eager to consult with Congress and perhaps what was most encouraging to me is he spoke about the need for a bipartisan approach to national security,” Collins said.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., in line to become next chairman of the committee, told reporters that although he opposed Gates’ nomination as CIA director in 1991, he is willing to give him a fresh look.
Levin added that he hoped to discern whether Gates was open-minded and willing to offer dissenting views to the president.
“The president needs to have people who are strong in their positions enough to tell him when ... they disagree with him,” Levin said.
Levin was among 31 senators who voted against Gates to become CIA chief in 1991. During that year’s hearings, Gates faced accusations by CIA officials that he manipulated intelligence as a senior analyst in the 1980s in order to support White House policy.
Also, some doubted he had told all he knew about the Iran-Contra scandal, which erupted in 1986 after the Reagan administration secretly sold arms to Iran in hopes of freeing hostages in Lebanon, then used profits from the sales to help the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
Rand Beers, a former intelligence official who served as foreign policy adviser to Sen. John Kerry’s Democratic presidential campaign in 2004, said Monday that Iraq stands out as the issue on which Gates will be judged.
“The secretary of defense must demonstrate a change in course in what is now America’s largest and most immediate security issue, Iraq,” he said. “He must lay out a clear path forward that includes his views on what American troop levels should be.”
Warner said Sunday that he expects the panel to vote on the nomination late Tuesday, followed by debate and a vote by the full Senate on Wednesday. If confirmed, as expected, Gates is likely to be sworn in as the nation’s 22nd secretary of defense in mid-December.
Gates, a native of Wichita, Kan., was the first career CIA analyst to rise to the top of the spy agency, and he spent seven years at the National Security Council, including as the first President Bush’s national security adviser from August 1989 to November 1991, when he took the CIA director’s post.
Since 2002, he has been president of Texas A&M University.
Ellie