The US is likely in for a long long stay in Iraq.
Like it or not, the war was fought,and won. Coalition troops are not encountering much resistance at the approaches to Baghdad, nor, inside it. Claims of the Iraqi information minister notwithstanding, it is difficult to see Baghdad holding out for more than a week without running water or electricity. As in the Gulf war, hitting the water supply has been a part of the coalition strategy. Sad in one sense for the Iraqi population but the war is won faster this way and that, in itself, may be no small relief for a beleaguered people. What happened to those many who had crossed into Iraq from other parts of the Arab world, hoping to defend their native city? We do not know. But street fight or no street fight, no city can hold on for long without running water. Not even a city of desert dwellers.

With the war almost won, then, Bush and Rummy generate visions of the post-war regime. But, unlike Afghanistan, there are more trenches and hurdles and more opinions. Reconstruction is about aid to those ravaged by the conflict. But it is also about more--business to the reconstructors and strategic influence. And reconstruction is big money, especially where an entire oil industry needs a major overhaul and not merely reconstruction. Given that this is so, the US at least has hard headed horse-sense on its side when it says it wants the major role in the process. War is costly business and money should not go waste.

The US has already declared Lt.Gen Jay Garner as the interim chief of civil administration of Iraq. The Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) is scheduled to start operations from Tuesday. The OHRA has also decided on three administrative regions, two of which, the North and South are to be presided over by retired US generals while the central region would be under a former US ambassador to Yemen, Barbara Bodine. The interim administration, we are told, will make way for an interim Iraqi leadership. The US, in opting for a all American setup at the top of the new administrative structure in Iraq, seems to be painfully aware of the realities on ground.

Political reconstruction, is a dangerous and risky task, especially in the middle east. A friendly regime in Iraq would be just the thing the US is looking for in a region where anti-US sentiments run high and where erstwhile friends, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, seem to be getting more ambiguous by the day. In addition, there is the Palestinian question and Iran, the second altar in the President