WASHINGTON, Nov 9: The nomination of former CIA director Robert Gates as the new US defence secretary is seen in Washington as indicating President Bush’s willingness to review his administration’s strategy for Iraq.
Mr Gates, who is to replace Donald Rumsfeld, was a member of the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel that is making recommendations to Mr Bush on how to proceed in Iraq.
While announcing Mr Rumsfeld’s decision to step down, President Bush also said that the country needs a `fresh perspective’ on Iraq -- a statement many in Washington see as an acknowledgement that the old policy of `staying the course’, which Mr Rumsfeld symbolised, was not working.
Mr Gates travelled with the panel to Iraq earlier this year, an experience Mr Bush said will enable Mr Gates to come up with `new ideas on how America can achieve our goals in Iraq’.
While accepting his nomination, Mr Gates, 63, said: "I believe the outcome of these conflicts will shape our world for decades to come.”
His nomination must be confirmed by the new, Democrat-controlled Senate. President Bush said that since Mr Gates has worked with both Republicans and Democrats in the past, he will get the confirmation.
But Senator Harry Reid, who is poised to head the Senate as the new majority leader, has indicated that Mr Gates’s confirmation may not be as smooth as the president expects. In a television interview, Mr Reid recalled that Mr Gates was involved in the Iran-Contra affair during the Iran-US conflict. The Reagan administration secretly sold weapons to Iran to fund Contra rebels in Nicaragua who were fighting the then communist regime of Daniel Ortega.
Interestingly, a day before Mr Gates’s nomination, Daniel Ortega also returned to power in Nicaragua after winning the presidential election.
“History just does not repeat itself, it repeats itself with the same exact people,” said a blogger while commenting on the development. Administration insiders in Washington, however, say that Mr Gates’s involvement in the Iran-Contra affair may turn out to be a positive point in his dealings with the Iraqis.
