Washington: US Defence Secretary-designate Robert Gates has achieved the unanimous approval of a Senate panel that cleared his name for the post after a lengthy quizzing session during which the President George Bush nominee told lawmakers that US is not winning the war in Iraq.
The 21-member Senate Armed Services Committee gave its approval for Gates here yesterday for the post of the next Secretary of Defence and sent their recommendation to a full Senate for a debate and vote.
Democrats who will be returning as the majority party in the 110th Congress next year have given no indication that they are spoiling for a fight on the Senate floor. The Lame Duck session of the 109th Congress is winding down and will come to a close on Thursday or day after.
In a long five-hour session on Capitol Hill, Gates won the praise of most, if not all, of the lawmakers sitting on the Panel who particularly quizzed the Pentagon civilian-designate on the goings on in Iraq.
Gates bluntly told them that the US is not winning the war in Iraq and warned of a regional conflagration if Iraq is not stabilised.
The open testimony was followed by a short closed-door session of the panel that eventually decided to go with the President's choice.
"What we are now doing is not satisfactory," Gates told lawmakers making generally the point that if confirmed his top priority will be Iraq.
"In my view, all options are on the table, in terms of how we address this problem in Iraq," he added without commiting himself to any specific plan of action.
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