Enter Bush the elder's statesman, to relief all round

One by one, daddy's wise men are coming back to rescue the struggling son. First was James Baker, Secretary of State for Bush the elder, chosen to chair the bipartisan panel seeking an exit from Iraq. Now it is the turn of Robert Gates, CIA director from 1991 to 93. To him has fallen the toughest job: taking over the department that runs the war. Mr Gates, 63, shares the keen intellect of Donald Rumsfeld, the man he will replace at the Pentagon. He spent most of his career operating either at the CIA, or the National Security Council.

From Kansas, he is pragmatic and unflashy. Unlike Mr Rumsfeld, he is expected to let top brass get on with the job of running the military. As one observer put it: "He'll be a chairman rather than chief executive, but a chairman focused on one thing; Iraq." A year ago, the President offered him a job as national intelligence director; Mr Gates declined, preferring academia. He has accepted now, he says, "without hesitation". And, if the relief coursing around here is anything to go by, few doubt the Senate will swiftly confirm him.

For the first years of his career, Mr Gates moved between the CIA and the NSC, where he served five presidents, from Nixon to Bush the elder, for whom he was deputy national security adviser. He has expressed dismay at Mr Rumsfeld's conduct of the war. In a study he co-wrote in 2004, he advocated direct talks between the US and Iran - rejected by Bush Jnr.

But such differences are past. In 2003, President Bush ignored the reasons set out by his father for not going all the way to Baghdad 12 years earlier. He has paid the price. It is up to Mr Baker and Mr Gates to find a way out.

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