They may be shortsighted in urging caution, but Washington will pay a heavy diplomatic price for its more aggressive policy. More significantly, most of America's supposed allies in the Mideast oppose military action. The sight of Washington begging Iraq's neighbors for support to bomb a country supposedly threatening those very nations is, well, embarrassing. Even more pitiful is the fact that most of them, including Saudi Arabia and Turkey, said no. While Iraq has no capacity to respond militarily, America remains at risk to terrorism which, as the bombing of the World Trade Center demonstrated, is the poor man's form of retaliation.
Intervention abroad breeds terrorism.
Finally, there is no end point to administration policy, absent the full-scale invasion advocated by some. That has no end-point either, however. Having grabbed the tar baby, the United States could never let loose. Washington needs to look for a solution to get out of today's box. For instance, consider combining a more modest inspection regime that might still hinder Iraqi acquisition of banned weapons, continuing prohibitions on international sale of militarily sensitive goods to Iraq, and a limited series of spot checks over the next six months.