Washington, D.C.
A Senate committee this week unanimously approved Robert Gates as the new defense secretary, after hearing him bluntly acknowledge that the U.S. is not winning the Iraq war. The full Senate was expected to confirm him. Gates, 63, who served as CIA director under the first President Bush, also told the Senate Armed Services Committee that without a new strategy, the conflict could expand into a “regional conflagration.” While “all options are on the table,” Gates said, the U.S.’s overriding goal must still be an Iraq that can “sustain itself, defend itself, and govern itself.” Senators from both parties praised Gates for his “candor.” He replaces Donald Rumsfeld, the longest-serving Pentagon chief in history.
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