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Obama poised to name Hillary Clinton to State post
30 Nov 2008 20:39:24 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Gates, Jones, Susan Rice also expected to be named

* Holder would be first black U.S. attorney general

* Bill Clinton agrees to make public foundation donors

By Ross Colvin

CHICAGO, Nov 30 (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama was poised to name his national security team on Monday, with former political rival Hillary Clinton in line to be picked as secretary of state.

Former President Bill Clinton agreed to make public the names of more than 200,000 donors to his foundation as part of a deal with Obama's transition team to clear the way for his wife to become the top U.S. diplomat.

With wars ongoing in Iraq and Afghanistan, the fate of the Guantanamo Bay prison up in the air, and foreign policy challenges looming in Iran, North Korea, India, Pakistan, Russia, China and elsewhere, Obama will announce on Monday selections for critical posts in his Cabinet.

Democratic sources said they include: current Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a member of a Republican administration who would stay on under the new Democratic president; retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones as White House national security adviser, and Susan Rice, an Obama foreign policy adviser, as U.N. ambassador.

The first black elected as president will choose former Justice Department official Eric Holder as the first black attorney general, the top U.S. law enforcement officer, a Democratic official said.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano would be homeland security chief.

The Cabinet choices require U.S. Senate confirmation.

SECURITY CHALLENGES

A person close to Clinton, the New York senator who waged a sometimes heated battle with Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination, said on Sunday that "she will be in Chicago tomorrow to be named secretary of state."

Obama team's will face the task of rebuilding the U.S. image abroad after President George W. Bush's eight years in office. The appointments come amid other global security challenges such as the attacks in Mumbai that killed nearly 200 people and threatened to undermine India's improving ties with fellow nuclear-armed neighbor Pakistan.

Obama's office said on Sunday that Obama would hold a news conference at 10:40 a.m. EST (1540 GMT) on Monday. Vice President-elect Joe Biden will also attend the session.

Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, the senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, praised Hillary Clinton's pending nomination, but made clear that her husband's activities might come under scrutiny.

"I would vote in favor of Senator Clinton, knowing what we have here," about her husband's disclosures on his foundation, Lugar told ABC's "This Week."

"I suspect, however, that I'm not alone in suggesting that there will be questions raised, and probably legitimate questions," Lugar said.

CLINTON CONDITIONS

In a deal first reported by The New York Times, Bill Clinton will make public his foundation's contributor list to avoid an appearance of conflict of interest with his wife's duties as the top U.S. diplomat.

A member of Obama's transition team confirmed the conditions of the agreement as reported by the Times.

Clinton turned over names of all 208,000 individuals and organizations that have given money since 1997, and his foundation will release them publicly by year's end. Future donors will be disclosed as long as Hillary Clinton serves in Obama's Cabinet.

The former president also agreed to submit his speeches and business dealings in advance to State Department ethics officials for review, as well as to the White House counsel's office if necessary.

'TRANSPARENCY AND DISCLOSURE'

"I think this arrangement sets up a framework of transparency and disclosure. And I think that's a significant and important aspect of the confirmation process," Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, another member of the Foreign Relations panel, said on the ABC program.

Lugar hailed Clinton, Gates, Jones and Rice as "excellent selections. I think it will be a strong team."

Reed and other senators praised Gates, who has been credited with revamping U.S. military operations in Iraq after Donald Rumsfeld's tumultuous tenure at the Pentagon.

"He led us through some difficult times in Iraq. And if Iraq had become a failed state, we would be talking about a lot more on this show than just Pakistan and India. We'd be talking about a region in chaos," South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told "Fox News Sunday."

Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill said of Gates: "Even though there may have been times I disagreed with him and maybe Barack Obama disagreed with him, this is a man who clearly holds the highest level of the military accountable for mistakes, which has been very impressive to all of us." (Writing by Will Dunham; Additional reporting by Caren Bohan, Glenn Somerville and Steve Holland; Editing by Xavier Briand)
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A demonstrator slaps an effigy of U.S. President George W. Bush with a sandal during a rally at Firdos square in Baghdad November 21, 2008. Followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ...



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