The Decider: Bush Sounds Certain on Iraq Path

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10, 2007 — -- President Bush did his best tonight to convince a skeptical nation that now is the time to send more troops to Iraq.

"We can and will prevail," he said.

He is so certain. He has always been so certain. Remember "Mission Accomplished" aboard the aircraft carrier in 2003? The president said then, "In the battle of Iraq, the United States and its allies have prevailed."

And even as the casualties mounted, no weapons of mass destruction were found and Iraq spiraled into savagery and chaos -- George W. Bush would not admit to the slightest doubt.

Just last October, he told a news conference, "Absolutely, we're winning" in Iraq.

Where does it come from, this certainty -- certainty, his critics say, in the face of facts on the ground? And what kind of president -- what kind of man -- when confronted with a policy that is simply not working -- decides to pursue it with even more energy, resources and lives?

Doug Wead has known George W. Bush for 20 years, since he worked in the White House when Bush's father was vice president. He was an informal adviser to Bush, and he says the president is the most decisive person he's ever met.

"He absolutely has doubts. Yeah. Oh sure, sure... but, compared to most people I've met, he has fewer given the situation he's in than anybody I know," Wead said.

But others are filled with doubt about the president's chosen course. Author Ron Suskind, who's written extensively about the Bush presidency, said it's George Bush's nature to reject those concerns.

"I think his response is, 'They're doubting me as a person, doubting me fundamentally,' and as he faces a nation that's increasingly one of doubters it seems as though he's digging in to say, 'My confidence can and will prevail here,'" he said.

And that, say longtime friends, reflects the president's basic character.

"His core beliefs, core principles have not changed," Bush's former Commerce Secretary Don Evans said. "He's the same disciplined, thoughtful, determined leader that I have seen for many, many, many years."