Options for America

. PHOTO: AFP

Continue to kill dozens of Iraqis and sacrifice some allied soldiers every passing day or eat humble pie and leave?

It seems that the Americans won't leave so easily. That is perhaps for two reasons. One being that after spending billions of dollars and many American lives they just cannot be defeated by the resistance in Iraq. The second and perhaps the most important being the perceived threat that they face from the 'terrorists' in Iraq. That is why they cannot leave although they have captured Saddam and couldn't find the so-called WMD which in any case were cited as the main reason for going to war against Iraq.

Or perhaps it is the 'spoils of war' that is the real reason for spending so much money and giving up so many lives?

Yet another idea is that the Americans are really out to eliminate the 'terrorists' in Iraq which are launching suicide attacks against Israel.

According to estimates within the US itself, the American demand for oil would double in 20 years' time. So if the US controls the second biggest oil reserve in Iraq, it would be pretty sweet for it.

But it all depends on how much time and money and loss of lives can the Americans bear before they achieve their aim or quit.

One remembers that the Americans sacrificed about 50,000 lives, and God knows how many lives, before they decided to quit Vietnam. If in the process, they killed about one million Vietnamese people, then who cared!

Is it going to be the same case in Iraq?

The aplomb with which the Iraq war is justified and defended by the American administration is horrible, if nothing else.

This war would not have taken place had not the other Superpower disintegrated and left the world at the mercy of a lone Superpower.

Hats off to the Iraqis who are fighting and inflicting heavy damage. The Americans must understand that they have to live with what their government has done till the end of the world, no matter how and when the Iraqi conflict ends.