US Features
New US defence chief part of bipartisan Iraq effort
By Pat Reber
Nov 9, 2006, 19:00 GMT

Washington - Robert Gates, named Wednesday by US President George W Bush to replace Donald Rumsfeld as defence secretary, is no stranger to Iraq or the current war there.

In 1991, the former CIA chief was a top White House security advisor for the US-led effort that ousted Iraq from Kuwait.

More recently, Gates has served on a bipartisan panel formed in March by an increasingly concerned US Congress to explore new concepts and ideas about the current Iraqi conflict.

In a post-election reversal, Bush accepted Rumsfeld's resignation and conceded defeat for his Republican Party in congressional elections. Growing frustration over the war in Iraq fuelled the apparent takeover of Congress by the opposition Democrats.

The nomination of Gates, 63, must be approved by the US Senate. He is currently president of Texas A&M University, with the sixth largest enrollment in the nation.

The departure of Rumsfeld, a chief architect of the Iraq war, marked a dramatic first step by Bush to reach out to the centre-left Democrats, who captured the US House of Representatives in Tuesday's voting and will have 50 or 51 seats in the 100-seat Senate.

Rumsfeld has been a polarizing figure for both his uncompromising policies and his inflammatory statements toward the domestic opposition and about foreign allies and foes alike.

Bush emphasized Gates' record of serving presidents of both political parties during 27 years in Washington - an apparent overture to defuse the polarized political climate that has shut out Democrats during Bush's six years in the White House.

Gates 'knows that the challenge of protecting our country is larger than any political party,' Bush said. 'And he has a record of working with leaders on both sides of the aisle to strengthen our national security.'

Gates' nomination was also an acknowledgement of Bush's own increasing concern over the course of a conflict that has been moving for months to the verge of outright civil war.

'He'll provide the Department (of Defence) with a fresh perspective and new ideas on how America can achieve our goals in Iraq,' Bush said.

The so-called Iraq Study Group, is headed by influential Republican statesman James Baker III, a former US secretary of state. The panel is preparing a report to be released after the elections to suggest new concepts and ideas on the way forward in Iraq.

As part of that work, Gates has travelled frequently to Iraq and met 'with the country's leaders and our military commanders on the ground,' Bush said. 'Bob understands the challenges facing our nation in Iraq.'

As deputy CIA chief during the 1980s under late president Ronald Reagan, Gates gained deep insight into Afghanistan, where he helped coordinate US efforts to drive out Soviet forces, Bush said.

During Gates' confirmation hearings to head the CIA from 1991-93, questions surfaced about his role in the Iran-Contra scandal, in which US covert operatives sold arms to Iran and spent the profits to support the so-called Contra rebels fighting Nicaragua's Marxist Sandinista regime.

An investigation by an independent prosecutor found no cause to indict Gates.

On Wednesday, even the Sandinistas, newly returned to power in Nicaragua, extended an olive branch, saying they did not view Gates' appointment as a threat to Nicaragua.

Tomas Borge, deputy head of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), told Deutsche Presse-Agentur