The coming October surprise: "Secretary Powell told George Stephanopoulos that theoretically the new Iraqi government can demand that foreign troops leave and America would respect such a request from a sovereign state. Our reaction: that's their exit strategy! "  Yup, I too thought that Powell's comment hadn't been reported on enough, but I hadn't thought of the political implications.   Like, the new Iraqi government starts in August, then by mid-Sept (say, just after the GOP convention), it requests a US withdrawal, and the first phase starts in time for some of our boys to visibly come home in the last half of October.  Of course, that doesn't have to be the end of it; there could be "problems" after the election that keep the rest of the troops there for a few more years, but the Bush campaign would harvest the political value of their "exit strategy".  10:31:49 PM