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The US Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved the nomination of Robert Gates as the next Defense Secretary.

The confirmation process will now come to a full Senate vote, expected sometime before the weekend.

The Senate panel endorsed Gates' nomination by a 21-0 vote after a daylong hearing, which appears to remove the main stumbling block he could encounter before his likely confirmation by the Senate.

In a hearing centering on Iraq policy, Gates said the country is not winning the war in Iraq and risks regional disaster within one or two years.

The view is not shared by US President George W. Bush, who said as recently as October that the United States was winning the war.

Although Gates gave no timeline for ending the conflict in Iraq, he repeatedly stated a two-year timeline when discussing US options.

"Our course over the next year or two will determine whether the American and Iraqi people and the next president of the United States will face a slowly but steadily improving situation in Iraq and in the region or will face the very real risk and possible reality of a regional conflagration," he said.

The Situation in Iraq by that time will "greatly influence global geopolitics for many years to come," Gates noted.

The former CIA director said his greatest worry is that "if we mishandle the next year or two and if we leave Iraq in chaos, is that a variety of regional powers will become involved in Iraq, and we will have a regional conflict on our hands."

Gates also said that if confirmed, he would rapidly consult military commanders in the field and politicians back home to determine the best course of action in Iraq, but "I will give most serious consideration to the views of those who lead our men and women in uniform."

Prior to the hearing, Bush said in a statement that he hopes for "a speedy confirmation so he (Gates) can get sworn in and get to work."

Gates was nominated on Nov. 8 to replace beleaguered and outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, two days after Democrats took control of both houses of Congress in midterm elections dominated by concerns about the Iraq war.

Gates, 63, currently president of Texas A&M University, had served as national security adviser and CIA director during President George H.W. Bush's administration.

(Xinhua News Agency December 6, 2006 )