Sometimes it Might Seem Like it Was Planned

So this morning, everyone was surprised by the early handover of sovereignty by the Coalition Provisional Authority, to the new interim Iraqi government. As reported in the news:"Iraqi political leaders said the transfer of sovereignty occurred days earlier than had been planned in an effort to thwart possible efforts by insurgents who may have been planning attacks." Who plans these bold moves? Is it the State Department, or the Pentagon?

How about a questioner during "Ask the Whitehouse"? From an online session last Friday, when Paul Wolfowitz was taking questions:

jon, from huntington beach, ca writes:
I realize that Iraq is in control of a great deal of the government but why dont you catch the insurgents off-guard and turn full control over to Iraq now. What difference does a few days make? I have the feeling that they are planning some big attack on the 30th. Remove the significance of June 30th.

Let the Iraq deel with the insurgents starting right now.

Paul Wolfowitz
That’s an interesting idea. The terrorists work by surprising us and we need to think about what we can do to throw them off balance. But their real target is not so much a date as it is the new government. Saddam’s killers and Zarqawi’s terrorists are already ramping up their attacks.

[Edited 7/1/04 to add] And Mr. Harris sitting in at This Modern World also noticed this, and paints a word picture of what could have happened after that exchange.