Here comes the surge. Reports this week indicate the Pentagon is preparing to send 3,500 troops to Kuwait to await deployment to Iraq, the next step down a disastrous path of escalation.

Before the escalation becomes inevitable, it must be made clear that this reckless strategy is being dictated by the White House and not by the military commanders who are being poked, prodded, pushed — and bribed — into backing it.

Again and again and again, President Bush has insisted that he’s running the war by listening to his generals, and that he doesn’t “make decisions based upon politics about how to win a war,” choosing to “trust our commanders on the ground to give the best advice about how to achieve victory.” As he put it in the run-up to the midterm elections: “I believe that you empower your generals to make the decisions — the recommendations on what we do to win.”

But that’s clearly not what’s happening.

For months, those commanders, Gen. Abizaid and Gen. Casey, have been unwavering in their opposition to sending more troops to Iraq, arguing that it would increase Iraqi dependency on Washington, lead to more attacks by al-Qaeda, provide more targets for Sunni insurgents, attract more foreign jihadists to Iraq, increase the impression of an American occupation, and, in the evocative words of a senior military official, “be like throwing kerosene on a fire.”

Testifying at a Senate Armed Services hearing last month, Gen. Abizaid said unequivocally that he did not “believe that more American troops right now is the solution.”

But the surge is moving forward anyway. So much for “trusting and empowering” your commanders. Making matters worse, Abizaid and Casey are providing cover for Bush by caving to White House pressure and acting like they support the move — albeit in the most unenthusiastic terms possible.   MORE: Best Advice of Generals Be Damned

Bush and his military-industrial backers know that this is their last shot.

The new Congress convenes in less than two weeks.  At that point Bush will lose a lot of his power to escalate his various business interests, although the remains of the Republicans in Congress and his position as so-called Commander in Chief may allow him to screw things up even more before he is forced to give the country back to its citizens…especially if he calls for a unilateral strike on Iran.  That would cost billions (paid to his buddies who supply the weapons, aircraft, ammo, support services, petroleum and so forth) and would also so inextricably enmesh us in a West Asian war that they could count on a comfortable income for years onward.

If you aren’t writing to your congresspeople (REAL letters) on a monthly basis, you aren’t doing your part.  They ignore emails — too easy — but they know folks who write hard copy are serious.