US policy and Iraq

["Tom O'Lincoln" <suarsos@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Phil Ferguson quotes the Militant:
>>Nonetheless, it is clear that U.S. officials have been seeking to avoid
massive Iraqi civilian casualties<<

Yes I think this is true, but we also have to keep in mind that if the
Americans had faced stiff resistance in Baghdad, they might have dumped
this policy. My feeling reading the Australian media after the initial
failures of Um Qasr and Basrah, was that they were starting to lay the
basis for that. The international editor of The Age wrote that "any
outcome" was better than leaving Saddam in power.