Hart says Iraq invasion will increase terror attack risk / Ex-senator may be fashioning political comeback

Sounding increasingly like a presidential candidate, former U.S. Democratic Sen. Gary Hart warned Monday in San Francisco that Americans should "get prepared" for more terrorist attacks if the U.S. goes to war against Iraq.

"We're going to kick open a hornet's nest, and we are not prepared in this country," Hart told about 200 people at a joint gathering of the Council on Foreign Relations and the World Affairs Council. "When we engage in a military conflict in the Middle East, the threats to this country will skyrocket."

Hart's speech, intending to present an alternative to the Bush administration on foreign policy, particularly regarding Iraq, is one of a quartet of such "major policy addresses" he will deliver nationally to measure support for a run at the presidency. At a press conference, Hart -- who wrote a report on terrorism that predicted domestic attacks two years before Sept. 11, 2001 -- said he would announce his intentions in the spring.