Lest we confuse ourselves ...

U.S. soldiers resting during hunt for captured comrades in May, 2007. AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo

Amid Democratic muttering about how Congress might now be able to inhibit Bush's surge and the New York Times finally seeing the light, it would be possible to believe the U.S. is in charge of its own fate in Iraq. Silly of us.

Lots of indicators suggest that withdrawal from Iraq will happen, whether planned now or precipitous, bloody and humiliating.

• Item: the war is now costing $10 billion a month -- $2 billion more for Afghanistan. This country is a rich, but there are limits.

• Item: the Broken Army clock. That's the "service timeline for an exhausted force. ... According to the Broken Army clock, troop levels will begin to wane in March 2008, no matter what Congress decides in September; the current 20 brigade combat teams will be reduced to 15 by August 2008."

• Item: meanwhile, U.S. forces come ever closer to being thrown out. Now they are using transport aircraft to carry water to keep the GIs supplied. That's got to amount to an admission they can't safely drive the roads. The Green Zone is often out of gas. Bridges keep getting blown up.

A recipe for a rout? I really feel for soldiers who thought they were defending their country only to be sent off to die for neocons' imperial dreams.