KATE MCMILLAN WRITES:

The chatter and concern of the past few weeks about Iraq being too insecure for a July transition of power is going to change.

As the countdown to June 30th begins, and there is no sign that the Bush administration is going to move the deadline, the talking points and the media coverage will shift. Holding to the deadline is going to be revised to running away. (Watch for mention of the deadline to be buried deeply, or even dropped from news reports.)

Yes, there’s only one strand of consistency in the news coverage.

UPDATE: More thoughts on constantly moving goal posts here.

ANOTHER UPDATE: By the way, here’s the November 15, 2003 agreement that sets the date to hand over sovereignty at June 30, 2004, adherence to which Kate expects will soon be portrayed as some sort of cut-and-run. And here’s the Countdown to Sovereignty website.