Condoleeza Rice - "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." This war was sold as having been defensive against WMD.
That was a "to whom it may concern" mushroom cloud, and not necessarily one used against the US.
We had no fear that Saddam would mount an offensive to attack the US.
Everyone knew he had no capacity to do that. It had to do with his possession of WMDs in his geographic region, and his use of WMDs via terrorist activity.
There is no reputable military person I can think of who would have thought that Saddam had the capacity to launch a WMD offensive against the US.
Jude, how many suitcase sized nukes can you fit into one of these? And how many would it take to destroy Manhattan Island?
We cannot afford to err on the side of incaution. We must be agressive in the war on terror. It is our duty. It is our destiny.