White House press secretary Dana Perino said this morning that President Bush will pause troop drawdowns this summer and will also shorten troop deployments from 15 months to 12 months after Aug. 1.

"He is going to accept the recommendation from Gen. [David] Petraeus," Mrs. Perino said.

Gen. Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, told Congress in two days of testimony this week that he recommends a 45-day period of "consolidation and evaluation" after the U.S. presence returns to the pre-surge level of about 130,000 soldiers.

Mr. Bush also confirmed this yesterday in an interview with Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol.

The president sat down with Mr. Kristol to foreshadow the speech he's giving this morning on Iraq, and said he'll pause troop reductions this summer.

"I won't commit beyond July," Mr. Bush said.

But Mr. Bush took issue with the word "pause."

" 'Pause' is the wrong word — because I'm going to explain why — you don't pause in the middle of a war; you continue to conduct war, you assess. And do I hope that we can continue 'return on success'? Yes, I do hope so. Do I guarantee it? No, I don't," Mr. Bush said.

Addressing the issue of troop morale and force strength, which is a major concern of top military planners and commanders, the president read from his speech.

"Our troops want to win in Iraq, and we can see that desire in the gains in recruiting and retention since the surge began. And the surest way to depress morale and weaken the force would be to lose in Iraq," he said to Mr. Kristol.

Mr. Bush also shared with Mr. Kristol some more details about Tuesday's Medal of Honor ceremony for Navy Seal Michael Monsoor, which as we wrote about here, provoked a show of emotion from the president.

"He explained how difficult it had been for him to keep his composure. This was especially the case, he said, when he was congratulating and comforting Petty Officer Mansoor's parents (this was evident on television). What wasn't evident on the telecast was that when the president was reading his remarks and looked up at the audience, he saw the Navy SEALs assembled in the East Room, to a man, weeping. That's when, the president said, he really had to steel himself to retain his composure. The president had a catch in his voice yesterday, 24 hours later, talking about the ceremony.

— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times