It is improbable that either delegation would return - logistically speaking they are about half way around the world each - it is possible they will get what they want anyway.

According to the highest source possible: Mary Robinson, there might not be enough time remaining at the conference, which is supposed to close on Friday, to replace the language that had been worked on, without success in three huge preparation meetings involving hundreds of delegates and Nongovernmental Organizations.

So the language might just go away. Which, according to analysts and other hangers on in the International Conference Center (ICC) would not ruin the afternoons of people in the U.S. State Department.

If you listen to the Palestinians, the Mideast wrangle had absolutely nothing to do with the decisions.

"Palestine became a scapegoat, " said one Palestinian NGO representative. "They don't want to deal with the African issues, compensation and victims around the world."

They may not want to deal with the indigenous issues either. Every indigenous group on the premises voted in caucus to demand the removal of paragraph 27 of the final declaration, which says that indigenous people have to negotiate with their national governments, and don't automatically have a right to sovereignty. The United States wrote paragraph 27.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who admittedly is not a registered Republican, said, "The United States motives are suspect. They came in late, and at a low level, and at a low budget - some $250,000 compared to a budget for (the UN. women's conference at) Beijing. And left early, in a high profile, which, I think has to be subterfuge."

He said the United States lost its seat on UN commission on human rights, because "its partners didn't agree with many of its policies including capital punishment." And now, he said, the U.S. government is ducking out of discussions on debt reduction, debt forgiveness, indigenous people, the IMF, and other issues on which the temperature might be higher in Durban than at home.

And, according to the same hangers-on, who know a lot about the United Nations, no matter what happens in Durban, the Americans still have another crack at the texts that come out of the WACR.

All "outside" conferences have to be reviewed by the UN General Assembly, where the United States has a seat.

If the results are to the liking of Washington, they can associate themselves with them. If they don't like them, they can give them a wide berth. A win-win, with all the marbles.