Cut and Run

from Cartledge's Grub Street Journal.
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The Civil War in Iraq, which is claiming, on average, 100 Iraqis a day, is still finding its way into the news headlines. Not surprising as many of the moneyed elites are beginning to wonder whether the seizure of Iraqi oil was worth the cost (based on continually soaring oil and petrol prices), and that divergence in elite opinion leads to more questioning articles in news reports (see Noam Chomsky's "Manufacturing Conscent").

The White House, not sure how to handle the situation, is simultaneously saying "we will stay the course" and "´staying the course´ has never been the president's plan." Also, while worldwide news reports are constantly pointing out the failure of the US's strategy in Iraq ("Heck of a Job, Malaki!"), the White House is "very happy, acually, with the way the Prime Minister is working" and putting together a team of occupation experts (sorry, I meant a "high level working group") to address security concerns in Iraq.

My question is, how many people must die before America gives up its imperial ambitions? If 500,000 isn't enough, would 5,000,000? 50,000,000? How many will it take?