Power shifts in the White House as the Bush family circles the wagons

Robert Gates with the elder
Bush
More and more information about the past history of the Sec'y of Defense nominee, Robert Gates, is coming to light. A big question lies in whether the Bush satraps can speed the confirmation process to cover-up his past misdeeds. And will the corporate media enable the cover-up to succeed. One of the key accusations against Gates is his propensity for "politicizing U.S. intelligence to conform with the desires of policymakers." Haven't we had enough of that?


This is from Consortiumnews.com

"Robert Gates, George W. Bush’s choice to replace Donald Rumsfeld as Defense Secretary, is a trusted figure within the Bush Family’s inner circle, but there are lingering questions about whether Gates is a trustworthy public official.

"The 63-year-old Gates has long faced accusations of collaborating with Islamic extremists in Iran, arming Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship in Iraq, and politicizing U.S. intelligence to conform with the desires of policymakers – three key areas that relate to his future job.

"Gates skated past some of these controversies during his 1991 confirmation hearings to be CIA director – and the current Bush administration is seeking to slip Gates through the congressional approval process again, this time by pressing for a quick confirmation by the end of the year, before the new Democratic-controlled Senate is seated.

"If Bush’s timetable is met, there will be no time for a serious investigation into Gates’s past."

This morning (Thurs.)Amy Goodman on DemocracyNow interviewed two people with extensive knowledge of Gates' past.

Robert Parry, veteran investigative journalist and editor of ConsortiumNews.com. For years he worked as an investigative reporter for both the Associated Press and Newsweek magazine. His reporting led to the exposure of the 'Iran-Contra' scandal. His books include Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & 'Project Truth' and Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq.

and

Melvin Goodman, former CIA and State Department analyst. Who is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and director of the Center's National Security Project. From 1966-1986 he was a senior CIA soviet analyst. In 1991 he was one of three former CIA officials to testify before the Senate against the nomination of Robert Gates as director of central intelligence. Goodman is co-author of the book, Bush League Diplomacy: How the Neoconservatives are Putting the World at Risk.