Wolfowitz gets post; has taken hard line on Iraq, China

WASHINGTON — President George Bush has appointed a leading strategist, as well as critic of China and Iraq, to a top administration policy post.

Paul Wolfowitz was nominated as deputy defense secretary, the second highest post in the Pentagon. Wolfowitz served as a key Pentagon strategist during the Gulf war, when Bush's father was president.

As undersecretary of defense for policy in 1991, Wolfowitz worked with the same members of the current administration, He fought then-Defense Secretary Richard Cheney and then-chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell in arguing that the United States should topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The elder Bush, however, agreed with Powell's recommendation to end the war.

During the years of the Clinton administration, Wolfowitz, then out of government, urged the White House and Congress to support the Iraqi opposition.

Wolfowitz has previously worked under Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during the failed presidential campaign of Senator Bob Dole in 1996. Rumsfeld, who directed the campaign, chose Wolfowitz as the foreign policy adviser.

Wolfowitz served in the same capacity last year with the Bush campaign — as one of "the Vulcans" along with current National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.

Wolfowitz also served as a member of the Rumsfeld Commission which warned in 1998 that the United States was increasingly vulnerable to attack by long range ballistic missiles from countries like North Korea, Iran and Iraq.

If approved by Congress, Wolfowitz is again expected to be opposed on the Iraqi issue by Powell, now secretary of state.

On Monday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan. The meeting, requested by Bandar, is believed to have focused on Iraq and Gulf regional security. No details were released.

Wolfowitz has also urged the Bush team to end Washington's cozy relationship with China. The strategist, who served as U.S. ambassador, wants the White House to get much tougher with Beijing as it threatens neighboring Taiwan.