‘Iraq Study Group’ Taking Charge
.
US Foreign Policy Set
To Change Dramatically
Analysis by Jim Lobe
Inter Press Service News Agency
WASHINGTON, Nov 9 (IPS) - The abrupt replacement of Pentagon chief, Donald Rumsfeld, by former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Robert Gates, combined with the Democratic sweep in Tuesday’s mid-term elections, appears to signal major changes in United States foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East.
A career CIA analyst until his retirement in the early 1990s, Gates, a favorite of both former president George H.W. Bush and his national security advisor, Brent Scowcroft, has shared their ‘realistic’ approach to U.S. foreign policy and shown little patience with the neo-conservatives and aggressive nationalists, like Vice-President Dick Cheney. Or with Rumsfeld, who dominated the younger Bush’s first term after the Sept.11, 2001 al-Qaeda attacks on New York and the Pentagon and led the march to war in Iraq. (more…)
