Woodward: Military Brass Opposed Surge

Also Tells 60 Minutes U.S. Has Secret Military Capability; And That U.S. Has Been Spying On Iraq's PM

(CBS)  Another part of that story, according to Woodward, is the president's frustration with the attitude of the Iraqi people. "He has a meeting at the Pentagon with a bunch of experts. And he voices, he just said, 'I don’t understand that the Iraqis are not appreciative of what we've done for them,' namely liberating them," Woodward said.

"But tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis had been killed, in the invasion and through the occupation. He didn’t understand why they might be a little ungrateful about what had occurred to them?" Pelley asked.

"His beacon is liberation," Woodward said. "He thinks we've done this magnificent thing for them. I think he still holds to that position."

"The president suggests to you, in your interview, that he believes he's already outmaneuvered whoever the next president is. Foreclosed their options on what to do about Iraq," Pelley said.

"He and the secretary of defense, Gates, both by appointing Petraeus as central commander, in other words the boss of the whole Middle East. And no matter who becomes president, they're not going to be able to replace him. Petraeus is what my old boss at the Post used to call 'fireproof' - he's done so well that he can't be fired. And there is some satisfaction people in the Bush administration take with that," Woodward explained.

"Satisfaction" because they believe Gen. Petraeus will resist a quick withdrawal from Iraq.

"General Petraeus is sitting with 140,000 troops, in Iraq now, when conditions are definitely better. But Petraeus says, 'It's still reversible and fragile, because so many bad things have happened,'" Woodward said.

"You know, I'm curious, did you ask the president what advice he would give the next president about the war?" Pelley asked.

Said Woodward, "Yes, and pressed on what is the essence of what you would say, he said: 'Don't let it fail.'"