When Spec. Nick Conlon and the other members of his infantry battalion learned they would be deployed to the Afghan province of Zabol, many expected their worst enemy to be boredom. But in the three months since setting up camp, the battalion has found itself at the center of a heated though somewhat forgotten war that is still underway 3 1/2 years after the Taliban was ousted from power.

Iraqi lawmakers from across the political spectrum called for the withdrawal of foreign forces from their country in a letter released to the media Sunday. The move comes as US President George W. Bush is under increasing domestic pressure to set a timetable for the pullout of American forces in the face of an increasing death toll at the hands of insurgents.

Americans, and indeed much of the rest of the world, continue to be lulled into a false sense of complacency by the fact that overt conventional military operations have not yet commenced between the United States and Iran. The reality is that the US war with Iran has already begun. As we speak, American over flights of Iranian soil are taking place, using pilotless drones and other, more sophisticated, capabilities.

For what purpose has President Bush sent 1,741 U.S. soldiers to be killed in action in Iraq? For what purpose have 15,000-38,000 U.S. troops been wounded, many so seriously that they are maimed for life? Why has the U.S. government thrown away $300 billion in an illegal and pointless war that cannot be won? These questions are beginning to penetrate the consciousness of Americans, a majority of whom no longer support Bush's war.

"The war has gone on longer and more violently than people envisioned," Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said. "We always accentuated the positive and never prepared the public for the worst. . . . People are dying in larger numbers than we thought, and the insurgency seems to be growing stronger, not weaker." The result, Graham said, is that Bush "ill-prepared the public for the trial and tribulations" of planting a new democracy in the heart of the Middle East. Graham said the public's sour mood is infecting some GOP senators, especially those facing reelection in 18 months.

The cost of war is always more than anticipated. If all the costs were known prior to the beginning of a war, fewer wars would be fought. At the beginning, optimism prevails. Denial and deception override the concern for the pain and penalties yet to come. Jingoistic patriotism and misplaced militarism too easily silence those who are cautious about the unforeseen expenses and hardships brought on by war.

Military commanders in Iraq privately told a visiting congressional delegation that the United States is at least two years away from adequately training a viable Iraqi military. "The idea that the insurgents are on the run and we are about to turn the corner, I did not hear that from anybody," Senator Joe Biden said in an interview.

The military announced the killing of four more U.S. soldiers on Sunday, pushing the American death toll past 1,700, and police found the bullet-riddled bodies of 28 people — many thought to be Sunni Arabs — buried in shallow graves or dumped streetside in Baghdad.

The Defense Department acknowledged yesterday that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have stressed the U.S. military to a point where it is at higher risk of less swiftly and easily defeating potential foes, though officials maintained that U.S. forces could handle any military threat that presents itself.