Military.com's Christian Lowe is reporting today that General Dave Petraeus has stated senior Pentagon officials agree with him that a rapid drawdown of U.S. troops in that country should be curtailed in favor of a more gradual, "conditions-based" approach to reductions.

In an exclusive interview with Military.com from his headquarters in Baghdad, Gen. David Petraeus, the Multi-National Forces-Iraq commander, explained that he'd held close consultations with Central Command chief Adm. William Fallon and Defense Secretary Robert Gates and won them over on keeping troop levels steady after July.

"I've had a chance to talk to most of the members of the Joint Chiefs in recent weeks ... [and] Adm. Fallon was just out and I think we see the world the same way," Petraeus explained. "He endorsed ... the concept of a period of consolidation and evaluation following the substantial withdrawals that will be completed by the end of July, before continuing with further reductions."

Military.com has an exlusive interview with General Petraeus here.