WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly endorsed the nomination of Robert Gates as the country's new Defense Secretary, succeeding Donald Rumsfeld.

    Backed by most Senators from both parties, Gates, the 63-year-old former CIA director, was confirmed to lead Pentagon by a 95-2 vote, just a day after the Senate Armed Services Committee unanimously approved his nomination.

    Senators from both parties said Gates is candid, largely because he told them Tuesday that the country was not winning the war in Iraq.

    They also expected him to face an uphill task, given the situation in Iraq.

    Gates served for 26 years in CIA and the National Security Council. Under President George H. W. Bush, he served as CIA director.

    Soft-spoken but tough-minded, the new defense secretary is seen as in many ways the antithesis of Rumsfeld, the brash leader he would replace.

    Gates has been critical of the Bush administration's failure to execute its military and political plans for Iraq, and has spent time debating new approaches to the war as a member of the Iraq Study Group, the bipartisan panel which released a key report to recommend major policy changes in Iraq Wednesday.