We -the average Joe or Jane looking to the Government for protection- defended and continue to defend ourselves by proxy. I'm not saying that I don't understand or think it necessary to do so, only that it carries a moral weight much heavier than the illustration you referenced.
I think that this story has the power to hurt President Bush in that it will make it very, very difficult in the future to pursue potential threats based on the same rationale.
Why? We did/are doing the right thing in Iraq. WMD programs were discovered. Besides the fact that there were reasons cited beyond WMD, the WMD programs in the hands of SH alone was justification for regime change in Iraq.