It is official, Donald Rumsfeld is out and former CIA Director Robert Gates, if confirmed, will be in as the new Defense Secretary. As usual, the more you read, the worse it get...

In November of 1999, Mr. Gates openly expressed his satisfaction with the arming of the Afghan Mujahhadin during the 1980s, a covert policy that gave rise to 'al-Qaeda'.

At a Texas A&M University Dinner, Mr. Gates stated the following:

"Operationally, CIA had important successes in covert action. Perhaps the most consequential of all was Afghanistan where CIA, with its management, funneled billions of dollars in supplies and weapons to the Mujahhadin, and the resistance was thus able to fight the vaunted Soviet army to a standoff and eventually force a political decision to withdraw."

To his credit, Gates does acknowledge that the "training and weapons we provided after the conflicts ended sometimes were put to unwelcome purposes and even used in actions hostile to US interests," but nonetheless, he states, "All in all, CIA uniquely among the world's intelligence services, endeavored to conduct its operations according to presidential directive under the rule of law and in every way possible consistent with American values. ... In sum, CIA in my view was remarkably successful".

Gates was nominated to head the CIA by Bush's daddy in 1991 but, as Ray McGovern, writes:

"...all hell broke loose...a former senior Soviet analyst and CIA division chief, Mel Goodman, stepped forward and gave the Senate intelligence committee chapter and verse on how Gates had shaped intelligence analysis to suit his masters and his career. Goodman was joined at once by several other analysts who put their own careers at risk by testifying against Gates' nomination. They were so many and so persuasive that, for a time, it appeared they had won the day. But the fix was in.

With a powerful assist from George Tenet, then staff director of the Senate Intelligence Committee, members approved the nomination. In his memoir, Gates makes a point of thanking Tenet for greasing the skids. Even so, 31 senators found the evidence against Gates so persuasive that, in an unprecedented move, they voted against him when the nomination came to the floor. ..."

According to McGovern, Gates "is the one most responsible for institutionalizing political corruption of intelligence analysis" at the CIA.