Robert Gates Tapped to Replace Rumsfeld

Upon the news of the Democrats winning over the majority of both houses of congress in November's election, Rumsfeld has announced his resignation and Bush tapped an old family friend Robert Gates for Rumsfeld's replacement making adjustments within the administration that will satisfy almost everyone. This all comes just days after Bush states that Rumsfeld stay on board until the general election in 2008. It is quite a turn around considering the support Bush was showering on Rumsfeld prior to the elections. Elections that cost President Bush and the Republican Party control of both the House and the Senate. On the surface it appears that President Bush and the Republican Party is finally listening to the American people. The American people as well as a number of Senators and representatives have been upset for some time over the war in Iraq. However, this really is an attempt by the Bush administration to save the Republican Party more defeat in the general election in 2008.

With the Democrats in control of the house and the senate after Tuesday's election, both Bush and Rumsfeld knew that changes were needed. Not so much changes to win in Iraq, but changes within the Bush administration that will help insure that a Republican gets elected as President in 2008. It could be assumed that Robert Gates replacing Rumsfeld is a step in the right direction. But Gates was or is assumed to have been involved with the Iran contra scandal under former President Reagan. This leaves some Democrats wondering what underhanded dealings will Gates and maybe the Bush administration will come up with next, to help polish their image or win in Iraq.

Rumsfeld is no stranger to controversy. He held the Secretary of Defense positions once before under former President Ford and was part of a special envoy to the Middle East. It was Rumsfeld that met with Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraqi war. And it was with United States support that helped Iraqi maintain an advantage and prevented Iran from becoming more powerful. The war in Iraq which is headed and run by Rumsfeld and approved by the White House could very well be an attempt to correct what has become an embarrassment on the Republican Party. It was no secret that Iraq was using chemical weapons before, during and after the Iran-Iraq war. It is also no secret that it was the United States under a Republican run congress and White House that helped Saddam Hussein gain power in Iraq. It was consider a vital interest in the gulf that lead to our support for Hussein in the beginning. That same vital interest in the gulf is also what persuaded our involvement in removing Hussein from power.

Robert Gates is a familiar face in Washington having served as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council. After leaving Washington he was named President of Texas A&M and wrote his memoirs and has maintain a low profile until this week when President Bush tapped Gates to replace Rumsfeld. Gates is an old family friend of both Bush's (mostly Sr.). Bush has stated that "sometimes it's necessary to have a fresh perspective" concerning the war in Iraq and the direction of the Defense Department. However Gates fresh perspective may come under scrutiny considering his questionable involvement of the Iran Contra scandal. Although Gates was not inducted for his involvement, some congressmen believe he should have been. With Gates appointment to take over Rumsfeld post the best the Republican Party can hope for is to work through the confirmation hearings before congress reconvenes in January. Once the Democrats have control of congress Gates confirmation may be in jeopardy before it even gets off the ground. It would be better to think that Gates appointment is more a patch job by the Republican Party and the Bush administration then a new prospective on the war in Iraq.

The war in Iraq is largely the reasons that the Republican Party lost control of congress. It is no surprise with the questions being asked and the lack of solid answers from the White House or the Defense Department that Iraq was going to play largely in this election. The question here is will replacing Rumsfeld with someone like Robert Gates yield the answers and solutions the American people both want and demand or is this just merely a snow job by President Bush to ease the tension leading into the 2008 primaries. Bush, Rumsfeld and Gates are all aware that without some valid results over the next two years, the Republican Party stands to suffer more loses. Both the Republican and Democratic Parties have been complaining about the direction of the war in Iraq. Neither party really seems to have a solution on how to end the Iraqi conflict. President Bush and Rumsfeld had seemly taking this war personal, far beyond the threat of terrorism.

It also seems that both parties have forgotten about Osama Bin Laden and Afghanistan. President Bush and Rumsfeld managed to affectively direct the American people away from Afghanistan and Bin Laden and their failure in his capture. Bin Laden, al-Qaeda and Taliban were behind the 9-11 attacks on the World Trade Center, and a number of other attacks on both the United States and other countries. President Bush and Rumsfeld both faced criticism over the handling of al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners, yet neither Bush nor Rumsfeld seem to have a clear course of action at yields the captor of Bin Laden. Unlike Saddam Hussein who has currently been tried and convicted and sentenced to hang, Bin Laden is still free and able to plot further attacks. Some believe his deadliest attack(s) is still to come. Since the start of the war in Iraq, both President Bush and Rumsfeld have been relatively quiet on further steps being taken to catch and bring to trail Bin Laden and other al-Qaeda. Only occasionally do we hear about events from Afghanistan and what is happening there. . It was the attacks on the World Trade Center on 9-11 that created a wider scope of fear for our way of life. At first it seemed that the Bush administration and Rumsfeld were going in the right direction. To combat and protect the American people the Bush administration created a new department called Home Land Security. Home Land Security main responsibility is the "coordinating national strategy to strengthen protections against terrorist threats or attacks in the United States." Presently this strategy has included adding more fence around the Mexican/American border and pushing for and gaining tough laws on immigration. Some in Washington and the rest of the United States feel that the creation of the Home Land Security department was a way for the government to justify taking away some of the very rights the American people live by.

Both Bush and Rumsfeld have made the war in Iraq their personal platform in hopes of promoting each of their personal agendas. President Bush has been pushing for more power in using wiretapping and surveillances. Bush has justified their uses as a way to combat terrorism, to better protect the American way of life. Yet it's been argued that the broader use of both would not only violate that way of life, but would also invade the very liberties that make that way of life what it is. Rumsfeld supports the wider use of wiretapping and surveillance and has pushed for more funding as a way of combating terrorist threats on American soil. We as American people are left to wonder who the biggest threat to our way of life is. The terrorist that feed on the fear they inflict and the damage they cause or our own government that seemly uses that same fear to gain favor with the American people.

President Bush has an up hill battle in store to get a confirmation on Gates prier to the new congress taking control in January. Rumsfeld will likely retire from an active political life. Robert Gates, if confirmed will have large if no impossible task in convincing the American people we can win the war in Iraq. President Bush and the Republican Party may have taken a beaten for now, but as history has shown us, they will return. In the weeks and months to come, following the start of the congressional sessions in January, we may see more shake up with and round the Bush Administration. Rumsfeld may have President Bush's ear, Robert Gates may be a family friend, but who will be the savior for the Bush administration and the Republican Parties and will it be in time for the 2008 elections.