US: ready to go solo?

Will the US invade Iraq without the backing of allies?

In a HARDtalk interview on 23 August, Michael Mandelbaum, US foreign policy expert, talks to Tim Sebastian.

The US doesn't like to go into wars without allies - but is that the prospect it now faces?

A recent poll in America, conducted by the Washington Post and ABC News found that 70% of Americans back military action.

Click here to watch the full interview

But opposition to such an attack is also growing.

Earlier this month, the German Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, spoke out against any attack on Iraq. He stated that Germany would not participate in any military action.

So could America ever really go it alone and launch an attack on Iraq and depose of Saddam Hussein?

Michael Mandelbaum rehearses arguments like that for a living.

He's professor of American foreign policy at Johns Hopkins University and a senior fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

He talks to Tim Sebastian about whether President Bush would ever back away from his threat to remove Saddam Hussein by force, even if the voices of dissent around the world are too strong.

The interview can be watched in full on Friday 23 August on BBC World and BBC News 24 at the following times:

BBC News 24 (times shown in BST) 0430, repeated 2230

BBC World (times shown in GMT) 0330, repeated 0830, 1130, 1530, 1830, 2330