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Toughie, Smoothy, Striver, Spy: BOB GATES

Robert Gates was an eagle scout and an A- student, a wholesome Kansas kid who met his wife-to-be on a hayride. He yearned to become a doctor or a teacher, and volunteered to tutor needy students. His college honored him as the graduate "who has made the greatest contribution to his fellow man." So how did a nice guy like Gates get into the spy business? And why do some Democrats in the Senate say such nasty things about him?

Nominated last week by President Bush to serve as director of Central Intelligence, Gates began his CIA career "on a lark"...

Quotes of the Day »

RAY KELLY, New York City Police Commissioner, on the arrest of a New Jersey man in one of the nation's most baffling missing-children cases, the disappearance more than three decades ago of 6-year-old Etan Patz.
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