General Petraeus readies war report

If General David Petraeus is feeling the heat as he readies his momentous Iraq War report to Congress, it is hard to tell by the cool confidence with which he discusses the toughest mission of his career.

Rarely in recent history have the words of one general loomed so large in determining the direction of a war.

Two things in particular give his coming September assessment and testimony to Congress great weight: He is viewed as the master of counterinsurgency strategy, having written just last year the military's manual on how it should be done. And secondly, President Bush has repeatedly said he would count on the judgment of his top Iraq commander.