Senate panel unanimously approves Gates nomination

By Gordon Lubold

The man tapped to run the Pentagon said he will respect the military he is charged to lead and will not be afraid to tell President Bush what he thinks.

Then Robert Gates, nominated by Bush to replace outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld put his money where his mouth is by saying the U.S. is not winning the war in Iraq.

The committee wasted no time approving Gates- nomination, voting unanimously after the hearing to send the nomination to the full Senate, which could act as soon as Wednesday, aides said.

Gates appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee to be grilled by Democrats and Republicans on just how he sees the job as Pentagon boss and what he would do in Iraq. A former CIA director who is now the president of Texas A&M University, Gates said he wouldn-t be afraid to tell Bush the truth.
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Gates, who accepted Bush’s nomination because he said he thinks he can bring something to the job, said he isn-t returning to Washington to be “a bump on a log.”
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Asked straight out at the hearing by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., whether the U.S. is winning in Iraq, Gates said: “No, sir.” He later said he believes the United States is neither winning nor losing, “at this point.”

Gates also said bluntly that there aren-t any new ideas on Iraq because most individuals believe in their own entrenched positions. The challenge, he said, is to assemble those different views into a coherent policy that can stand up for the long haul to the whims of presidents and lawmakers.

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He later said he believes the United States is neither winning nor losing, “at this point.”

Maybe he’s not “stay the course”, but I don’t see our troops coming home any time soon either. I don’t have a good feeling about this man… but I hope he proves me wrong.