Neoconservatives: New Bush Advisers Will Raise White Flag in Middle East

WASHINGTON — President Bush's nomination of Robert Gates to be secretary of defense and other recent administration moves have raised concerns and even open disdain among some members of the "neo-conservative" wing of the Republican Party, the president's most ardent war supporters.

The neo-cons say installing Gates, a career CIA analyst who served as the agency's director for two years under President George H.W. Bush, takes the administration one step closer toward repudiation of the once hailed "Bush Doctrine."

"What's happening here is essentially the end of the administration as we've known it," said Frank Gaffney, head of the Center for Security Policy and neo-conservative commentator.

"Pretty clearly, it signals a return to the 'Bush 41' policy," said Kenneth Timmerman, who heads the Foundation for the Democracy of Iran, which he founded with other prominent neo-conservatives in 1995.

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