Staying The Course?

Maybe not:

Secretary of State Colin Powell emphatically said yesterday that if the incoming Iraqi interim government ordered the departure of foreign troops after June 30, they would pack up without protest, but emphasized he doubted such a request would be made.

Perhaps Dennis Kucinnich should rip into the Administration for co-opting his position on Iraq.

A more in-depth look at recent statements by Powell and L. Paul Bremer are available on Iraq'd.

Update: Bush is now saying the US will stay in Iraq after June 30th, though it is not very clear what he means by this. He could think, like Powell, that the interim government that takes power after the handover of sovereignty will continue to permit the presence of American forces or that it the opinion of the new government would be irrelevant. The first assumption, as was pointed out in the Iraq'd post linked to above, may prove to be very wrongheaded in light of the serious unpopularity of the American military in Iraq and the second view might be more realistic, but would also seem to render the June 30th day more or less meaningless.