Warnings last week from two top generals about the war in Iraq, during an appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee, add up to a sobering reality check for anyone who thinks our efforts there are progressing as planned.

Army Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. Forces in Iraq, and U.S. Marine Gen. Peter Pace told the senators there is a serious possibility that sectarian violence could dissolve into a full-scale civil war.

More ominously, they said a turnaround depends less on U.S. military strategy than on Iraqi political will.

That's hardly an optimistic update.

While this reality check from two top soldiers made headlines, it should hardly have come as completely unexpected news to the senators or to the American public.

Fully two years ago, the national Intelligence Council produced a report for President Bush that forecast instability and a possible civil war in Iraq. Bush initially dismissed that report as a "guess." If so, it was a pretty good one.

More recently, a memo from outgoing British ambassador William Patey to Prime Minister Tony Blair was leaked to the BBC. In that memo, Patey said the prospect of a civil war and de facto division of Iraq "is more likely at this stage than a successful and substantial transition to a stable democracy."

All that adds up to a fair dose of rather gloomy news.

The United States remains committed to a stable and peaceful democracy in Iraq. No one can argue with that goal.

But news such as that from the two generals and from the British ambassador suggests the senators — and the American public — had better start thinking seriously of how we will deal with this other, far less rosy, reality.