Will The U.S. Strike Soon?

Fletcher School Dean says it is likely that the United States will attack Iraq within the next four months.

Medford/Somerville, Mass. [10-17-02] Recent months have shown increased concern over the possibility of Iraq harboring weapons of mass destruction. With Wednesday's signing of a Congressional accord authorizing President Bush to use force against Iraq, it appears that the U.S. will strike--and soon. According to the dean of Tufts' Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, it's likely that the United States will launch a military campaign against Iraq within the next four months.

"The chance of U.S. military action against Iraq between now and the end of February is now 70-30 percent, perhaps even more than that," Dean Stephen Bosworth told Agence France-Presse.

Bosworth--who was a U.S. ambassador for 20 years before coming to Tufts--sees U.S. military action in the coming months. He anticipates that the U.S. will act "before the temperature rises to 120 degrees in the Iraqi desert," he told The Manila Times. "Unless you want to wait another year."

The Tufts dean spoke hours before meeting with President Gloria Arroyo of the Philippines, who recently appointed him to her advisory council. His appointment follows a U.S. ambassadorship to the Philippines from 1984-1987.

Bosworth was U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Korea for four years prior to becoming dean of the Fletcher School in 2001.

The Fletcher dean said that recent events are responsible for bringing the U.S. close to attack.

"U.S. security concerns since the September 11 attacks have shifted to fears of a likely attack by Iraq using weapons of mass destruction," Bosworth told the Presse.

The former ambassador said that the U.S. is "moving inexorably toward military engagement to ensure that Iraq does not develop or use weapons of mass destruction," reported the Presse.

"[If Hussein's threat continues,] the U.S. will be militarily engaged," Bosworth told the Presse. "Hopefully in coalition with other countries."