It is not only possible but absolutely necessary for church leaders of every denomination to advocate non-violent change while that change is possible. A non-violent solution to the Iraq problem was simply not available, and we were already at war with terrorists, which Iraq harbored, trained and funded.
In June, our troops found a mass grave with 200 Kurdish children in it. They had been buried alive. Some were still holding their dolls. Sitting across a table from a man who would order that as a matter of course and making him see reason is simply not possible.
Again, I supported the war wholeheartedly, but Americans tend to see things only in their own interests (not that there's anything wrong with that). The Kurdish attack was terrible, but it occured 15 years ago, not this past April. The point is, for American interests it was vital that we attack Iraq, but from a strictly humanitarian standpoint, there were and are several more glaring targets of military intervention in the world. The Pope can not start down that road. It never ends. The Pope is really a spiritual figure, not a political one.