Gates no stranger to contention - Yahoo! News

Gates no stranger to contention - Yahoo! News:

(GATES - BUSH'S CHOICE FOR SEC-DEF - GG)

"Gates, 63, who directed the CIA from 1991-93, was first nominated as CIA director in 1987 by President
Ronald Reagan but withdrew amid questions over his and the CIA's role in the secret sales of arms to
Iran and the diversion of profits to Nicaragua's contra rebels.

In Senate hearings in 1991, when Gates was renominated as CIA chief by Bush's father, he admitted mistakes in what became known as the 'Iran-Contra' affair and said he should have done more to get at the truth. The Senate confirmed him 64-31.
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Beyond charges that he hid the truth about the Iran-Contra affair from Congress when that scandal was breaking in the 1980s, Gates in 1991 overcame potentially disqualifying claims that he skewed intelligence reports in the 1980s to suit the Reagan administration's hardline anti-Soviet views.
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But rushing into the confirmation process now caught flak from Democrat James Webb, Navy secretary under Reagan, who was leading Virginia Sen. George Allen (news, bio, voting record) in Tuesday's election results. "I believe that the new Senate should be the body that examines Bob Gates' qualifications for confirmation," Webb said."