"The administration has been saying, 'We cannot afford to lose,"' said one, speaking on condition of anonymity when discussing panel views. "But at some point, the question becomes, 'Can we afford to stay?"' Bush has said he is willing to adjust U.S. tactics but has emphasized that his goal of an Iraq that can defend, govern and sustain itself is unchanged. But like Bush, key administration officials have adopted more conciliatory views in the days following the dramatic Democratic takeover of the House and Senate.

"We have to give ourselves a good, honest scrub about what is working and what is not working, what are the impediments to progress and what should we change," Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a CBS interview Friday. Pace said Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top commander in Iraq, and Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, who oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East, were working on a new review.

Stephen Hadley, the White House national security adviser, said this week that President Bush thinks "we have an opportunity to define a way ahead" that will draw support from Republicans and Democrats, as well as from Iraqis.

The agreements carry more weight because they come at a time when centrists are gaining an important new role in shaping U.S. foreign policy. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld is expected to be replaced soon by former CIA Director Robert M. Gates. Gates is considered a foreign policy "realist" who has been openly critical of aspects of the Iraq policy.

The Iraq Study Group will have the first opportunity for charting a new path. The congressionally organized panel is stocked with foreign policy centrists from both parties. Led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., the panel will meet with Bush next week and hopes to release its recommendations by mid-December.

Though panel officials have not begun to try to reach a consensus, it is widely expected that the group will call for engagement with Iran and Syria, proposals that are fiercely resisted by some parts of both parties.