Bush Replaces Rummy with Another Retread

After his spanking at the polls, President Bush announced that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld would take the fall for the unprovoked war in Iraq.



He's being replaced by yet another retread from Bush Senior's administration. Robert Gates was Poppy's CIA Director for 14 months. Instead of choosing someone with military and intelligence experience who would have the support of both parties, Bush went to his father's Rolodex and pulled out a partisan mired in scandal and accused by colleagues of doctoring information to suit his former boss.

Gates was caught up in Iran-Contra. The Reagan scheme used money from arms sales to Iran (yes, Iran!) to illegally finance rebels in Nicaragua, in direct violation of a law passed by Congress. A special investigator looking into the scandal in 1987 found that there was insufficient evidence that Gates knew what was going on under then-CIA Director Bill Casey. Oliver North and John Poindexter were indicted for their roles in Iran-Contra.