The good news for President Bush on Iraq is that Americans trust military commanders far more than Congress to handle the war. This is also the bad news for Bush: When asked who they trusted to resolve the war, 5 percent chose the president, 21 percent favored Congress and 68 percent expressed the most trust in the military. Six in 10 say they believe the Bush administration deliberately misled them about the reasons for going to war.

Gen. Petraeus is assuming unusual political importance because the elected commander in chief is no longer trusted by our people to tell us the truth. This cannot be good for democracy in America, much less in Iraq.

But in spite of their jaundiced view of this administration, and their pessimism about Iraq, Americans are (unlike our political leaders) displaying remarkably grown-up, measured and responsible attitudes about what should happen next.

The majority of Americans (56 percent) in the New York Times poll favor staying in Iraq with reduced troop numbers "to train Iraqi forces, fight terrorists and protect American diplomats." Just 22 percent favor a complete withdrawal from Iraq over the next year, about the same number (20 percent) who say we should stay the course until stable democracy comes to Iraq. And 71 percent of Americans said flexibility in staging a withdrawal was more important than either unqualified victory or an immediate withdrawal demanded by MoveOn.org and its ilk.

Americans also retain their powerful bias that our military should be used primarily to protect Americans, not to prevent humanitarian disasters on far-flung shores. Almost half of Americans favor reducing troops even if the result is "more mass killings" in ethnic strife in Iraq. Just 30 percent favor reducing troops or withdrawal if it means Iraq would become a base of terrorist operations as a result.

I hope President Bush is taking notes.