Rumsfeld gone; Iran-Contra in

As we all know by now, Rumsfeld has resigned after the Dem victory two nights ago. In his place is Robert Gates. Well, who is this Mr. Gates? He has the pedigree - he was the Secretary of Defense under President Ford, and he was the CIA director under Reagan. But is this the right pedigree? Global security.org goes through Robert Gates's involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal, and it is not pretty. Go read about it. What does the report say? It says that Robert Gates was head of the CIA and either knew what was going on concerning Iran-Contra, or he was ridiculously incompetent. The independent counsel did not have enough information to charge Mr. Gates, but there is substantial evidence to worry about his involvement in this black mark on American history. Why does this matter? Because it gives credance to Francisco Gil-White's theory that the US is no ally to Israel. Lest we forget what Iran-Contra was, it was the US government's arming of Iran while saying they supported Iraq. They armed Iran while ostensibly fighting Hizballah. The US government used the proceeds to fund the anti-communist contras in Nicaragua. Gates was the CIA director at the time this occurred. This is very troubling. But there's more! Not only is Gates in, but so is Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, who fought alongside Manuel Noriega against, you guessed it, the Contras! Ortega is now trying to calm investors after his electoral victory. More on Ortega. (he has sloppy hair) In any case, these are very interesting turns of events. You know the famous curse, "may you live in interesting times." UPDATE: More on Gates and Iran-Contra.