Bush Listens Closely To His Man in Iraq

The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus, has the president's ear in a relationship that is historically rare. Petraeus is scheduled to report to Congress this week on progress in Iraq. (By Dusan Vranic -- Associated Press)

Petraeus has dismissed reports of conflict with Fallon as overdrawn, while Gates said that Petraeus, Fallon and the Joint Chiefs each "had a different analytical framework" on Iraq, but "ended up in the same place" last September.

In the months since that meeting in Kuwait, other key figures have fallen in line. Gates, who had previously raised the prospect of a faster pullout, indicated that he could live with a "pause" after meeting with Petraeus in Baghdad in February. Members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, although nervous about the strain Iraq poses on U.S. forces, appear ready to live with it, as well. Meanwhile, Fallon abruptly resigned last month.

Some officials said Petraeus is pushing on an open door with Bush. The president has privately expressed impatience with military concerns over the health of the force, telling the Joint Chiefs that if they are worried about breaking the Army, the worst thing would be to lose in Iraq, according to people familiar with the conversations.

Petraeus, who considers himself an apolitical general, has sought to present independent military judgment: He has consistently sounded a more sober note on Iraq than Bush, and once again he will not vet this week's testimony with the White House -- a move that drew wonder in military circles last fall.

But Army Col. Lance Betros, a historian at West Point, sees a mutual interest binding the president and the general. "Bush's political legacy is at stake; he wants desperately for things to succeed in Iraq," he said. "Petraeus is a general; we do not hire generals to fail. . . . They are on the same wavelength; they have the same objectives. It's a confluence of interests, not necessarily a personal relationship."

Staff writers Ann Scott Tyson and Robin Wright and staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.