As Mr. Bush's poll numbers began to fall last year, his aides clearly decided he couldn't afford the wait.

They said it could be some weeks before the President and his aides decide whether the program and others should be protected.

But in the year that has followed, Mr. Bush and his aides decided not to call for the treaty to be rewritten.

He and his aide had decided to see the prisoners without giving electronic warning.

He had clearly, his aides decided, been radically unsettled by whatever had happened in the forest.

"I will be damned, my aide has just decided his greater loyalty is to my wife and daughter!"

His aides said he was reviewing the 200-page document and had not decided whether to appeal.

"Well, as my boss tells it," another senior aide decided to explain, "it means true independence for our country."

Eventually, the president and his aides decided to sound the alarm because of the potential global political ramifications, administration officials said.

The Lieutenant Governor's aide, mortified by the publicity, decided to pay an $84 fine.