WASHINGTON — Are the president and the Pentagon on the same page over the war in Iraq?
That question is percolating in Washington after President Bush twice in the last 10 days tried to clarify a message sent by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and military leaders.
After Rumsfeld and other Pentagon officials indicated their desire to shift away from discussing the struggle against terrorism as a "war" -- saying it placed too much emphasis on military solutions to terrorism -- Bush repeatedly used the word "war" in an Aug. 3 speech to conservative state legislators.
Then on Thursday, Bush dismissed as "rumors" and "speculation" reports that U.S. commanders were contemplating significant withdrawals of American troops from Iraq next year. His comments came after Army Gen. George W. Casey, the top U.S. military official in Iraq, and Army Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, the top ground commander, had publicly raised exactly that possibility.
This dissonance on message is unusual in an administration that prides itself on coordination and discipline.
"The president has now twice in effect overruled or corrected" the Pentagon, said Bill Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard. "I think the president realizes how much damage was being done by the appearance coming out of the Pentagon of seeking urgently to get out" of Iraq.
One GOP strategist familiar with White House thinking said that, on both issues, the president had moved to regain control of the administration message to erase any doubt that he is committed to his course in Iraq and the broader struggle against terrorism.
"If the public begins to believe that the political leadership doesn't believe in the cause and is just going through the motions, that's the danger," said the strategist, who spoke on condition of anonymity while discussing internal administration deliberations.
So instead of encouraging talk of troop withdrawal to salve public anxiety about the war, the White House upended conventional wisdom by reaffirming the president's resolve -- which they see as the cornerstone of his public support.
"Will the president pull stakes and leave because of political pressure?" one White House official said. "The answer is absolutely no. If you look at presidents for the past 50 years, you'd be hard pressed to find someone -- maybe Ronald Reagan -- who would be as hard as nails on this."
