Clock Ticking on Army in Iraq

The Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan links today to an important piece by Time's Joe Klein, who reports that troop levels in Iraq are destined to come down early next year, whether or not the Democrats succeed in pressuring President Bush to set firm timetables for withdrawing American forces.That's because in addition to "clocks" in Washington and Baghdad for ending the war, there's a "Broken Army clock," indicating when the force becomes exhausted.

"According to the Broken Army clock," Klein writes, "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."