Posted on 11/09/2006 6:56:49 AM PST by indcons
In choosing Robert M. Gates as his next defense secretary, President Bush reached back to an earlier era in Republican foreign policy, one marked more by caution and pragmatism than that of the neoconservatives who have shaped the Bush administration’s war in Iraq and confrontations with Iran and North Korea.
Soft-spoken but tough-minded, Mr. Gates, 63, is in many ways the antithesis of Donald H. Rumsfeld, the brash leader he would replace. He has been privately critical of the administration’s failure to execute its military and political plans for Iraq, and he has spent the last six months quietly debating new approaches to the war, as a member of the Iraq Study Group run by James A. Baker III and Lee H. Hamilton.
Mr. Gates last served in Washington 13 years ago, and Mr. Bush made clear on Wednesday that he regarded his nominee as someone who would bring new perspective to the final two years of his tenure.
It was under Mr. Bush’s father that Mr. Gates first rose to influence, as deputy national security adviser and then director of central intelligence. He was not part of the group that advised the current President Bush during his 2000 campaign, and he has publicly questioned the administration’s approach to Iran, saying in a 2004 report for the Council on Foreign Relations that its refusal to talk to the Tehran government was ultimately self-defeating.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Combine this with James Backer and I'm a wee bit uncomfortable with this "new direction".
Am I the only one bothered by the fact that W keeps hiring his dad's old pals?
For every Cheney there seem to be two Powells.
Well, actually that's James Baker.
I've seen Gates up close on a few occasions, and the one thing he's not is "soft-spoken." Bob Gates has very definite opinions, and is unafraid to express them in unmistakable language.
No. There a few of us here who think it's asinine to keep doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. Remember Bush 41's presidency? Hardly anyone does.
No. Bush has sold out to the "realist" group - Baker, Kissinger, Brezinski, Powell, etc. This will just increase the problems for America and Bush seemed to be very aware of that in his past speeches. But he has sold out and I don't expect very much from him anymore.
Conservatives will have to battle both the liberals in Congress and the realigned Bush team, on defense, immigration, judges, spending, and other issues conservatives care about.
The Democrats will not confirm Gates. They want to leave Bush with the choice of nominating a liberal Democrat who will be a Trojan horse for impreachment, or to keep the post of Secretary of Defense vacant for the two remaining years of Bush's term. The latter is the lesser evil.
This dude's a detente monger.
We'll be at the negotiating table when the AQ nukes go off in our cities and the SCO's ICBMs are incoming.
Yeah, James Baker is a worthless jerk.
"Am I the only one bothered by the fact that W keeps hiring his dad's old pals? "
No. I'm bothered by it too. It says something negative about GWB. Junior needs to GROW UP and pick the right people for the job.
I remember.
"Am I the only one bothered by the fact that W keeps hiring his dad's old pals? "
No. I'm bothered by it too. It says something negative about GWB. Junior needs to GROW UP and pick the right people for the job.
I wouldn't mind it if the right people turned out to be those who worked for his dad. But "worked for Pappy" seems to be the primary requirement in his mind.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20061127-010420-1821r.htm
Writings reveal cautious Gates
By Rowan Scarborough
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
November 27, 2006
Defense Secretary-designate Robert M. Gates in the past decade opposed big changes at the CIA in the face of terror attacks and expressed doubt that Washington could assemble an alliance of nations against al Qaeda.
His writings, mostly in the op-ed pages of the New York Times, also revealed a former CIA director who was protective of the agency and opposed to intelligence inroads by the Pentagon at the behest of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. He opposed creating a budget line for the White House Office of Homeland Defense after al Qaeda's September 11 attacks on the United States.
The writings show Mr. Gates to be more cautious and pragmatic than his predecessor, Mr. Rumsfeld, who has transformed the military and aggressively hunted al Qaeda members.
The Senate Armed Services Committee convenes confirmation hearings on Mr. Gates next week. The central questioning promises to focus on how Mr. Gates will change policy in Iraq. The bogged-down war is the reason President Bush nudged Mr. Rumsfeld aside after six years and turned to the Texas A&M University president for a "fresh perspective."
A sample of Mr. Gates' views after leaving Washington in 1993:
~more at the link
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