Bold Viking Pundit prediction: The U.S. will go to war with Iraq

There's an old axiom in the theater that if a weapon is present on stage – e.g. a hunting rifle hanging over the fireplace – it will be used by the end of the play. This morning, the Boston Globe opened an article with this paragraph:
WASHINGTON – About 100 U.S. Special Forces members and more than 50 Central Intelligence Agency officers have been operating in small groups inside Iraq for at least four months, searching for Scud missile launchers, monitoring oil fields, marking minefield sites, and using lasers to help U.S. pilots bomb Iraqi air-defense systems, according to intelligence officials and military analysts who have talked with people on the teams.

The Hans Blix Keystone Kops will submit their report to the U.N. on January 27th. I'm figuring that, after a major presidential speech, the United States will commit forces by mid-February. Keep an eye on Slate's Saddameter, which tracks the odds of war, to jump well above 70% this week.