Supporters of going to war against Iraq offer two very different ideals for American action. Before the shooting starts, we had better be clear about which war we're fighting. The argument for it is that Saddam Hussein is building weapons of mass destruction that he will someday use or pass on to others. In this view, Saddam will always manage to foil the outside inspections he agreed to after his defeat in 1991. We need to take him out because that is the only way we can be sure of taking out his weapons.
The second Iraq war would be a much more aggressive one. …