Doubts and Debate Before Victory Over Taliban

There is an aspect of baseball-coach, even fraternity-brother, urgency in Bush at such moments. He leans his head forward and holds it still, makes eye contact, maintains it, saying, in effect: You're on board, you're with me, right?

Are we right, the president was asking. Are we still confident? He wanted a precise affirmation from each one -- Cheney, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, Rumsfeld, CIA Director George J. Tenet and Rice -- even backbenchers Stephen J. Hadley, the deputy national security adviser, and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the vice president's chief of staff. He was almost demanding they take an oath.

Each affirmed allegiance to the plan and strategy.

"Anybody have any ideas they want to put on the table?"

No's all around.

Rice believed the president would tolerate debate, would listen, but anyone who wanted debate had to have a good argument, and preferably a solution or at least a proposed fix. It was clear that no one at the table had a better idea.

In fact, the president had not really opened the door a crack for anyone to raise concerns or deal with any second thoughts. He was not really listening. He wanted to talk. He knew that he talked too much at times, just blowing off steam. It was not a good habit, he knew.

"You know what? We need to be patient," Bush said. "We've got a good plan."

"Look, we're entering a difficult phase. The press will seek to find divisions among us. They will try and force on us a strategy that is not consistent with victory."

In the secrecy of the room, the president had voiced one of his conclusions -- the news media, or at least some elements, did not want victory or at least acted as if they did not.

"We've been at this only 19 days. Be steady. Don't let the press panic us." The press would say they needed a new strategy, that the current strategy was a failed one. He disagreed. "Resist the second-guessing. Be confident but patient. We are going to continue this thing through Ramadan," the Muslim holy month. "We've got to be cool and steady. It's all going to work."

Hadley thought the tension suddenly drained from the room. The president was saying he had confidence and they should have confidence. In their souls, Hadley believed, some of them had to wonder whether the president might be losing confidence in them. Presidential confidence, once bestowed, was vital for all of them to function. Any hint of less than full confidence would be devastating. They served at his pleasure. They could be gone or sidelined in an instant. Not only had Bush declared confidence in their strategy, but more important, Hadley believed, he had declared confidence in them.