Does queueing a future method count as DML?

Hi all,

We need to implement the following pattern at my org:

• callout to external data source
• if that callout takes too long (according to some configurable threshold), log an error (ie do some DML)
• if that callout timed out on the remote server, try it again

Recognizing the potential for the dreaded "You have uncommitted work pending. Please commit or rollback before calling out." error, I put the error logging code in a future method, thus isolating the DML from the callouts. However, the error is still being thrown. I reduced the issue down to this pattern:

public static void foo() {
    Http http = new Http();
    HttpRequest req = new Httprequest();
    req.setEndpoint('https://test.salesforce.com'); //whatever endpoint
    req.setMethod('GET');
    http.send(req); //works fine
    bar();
    http.send(req); //throws calloutexception
}
@future public static void bar() {
}

Am I correct to assume that calling a future method counts as a DML operation? Is there any documentation I'm missing somewhere?