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Indeed, this country has been very slow to understand the clear and present danger of WMDs. And Saddam has a history of 'poisoning the well.' Nevertheless, IMHO this administration knows that the WMD threat must end here and now - and thus I am expecting a major offensive, soon.

I do expect a major offensive, but not "soon." I think it is further away than we would like to imagine -- and we have already been told not to expect a move before the fall, at the earliest. I'm not sure what can be done to counter the threat. It seems to me we need some technological breakthroughs in the area of anthrax treatment and cleanup, and even then, we would have to build up a massive rapid-deployment civil defense infrastructure capable of delivering medical care to millions of people in affected cities anywhere in the Western hemisphere in the space of about 24 hours. That is a pretty tall order, if you ask me. I also suspect that we will pursue some ingenious strategies to force Saddam out and take him hostage rather than killing him outright, and I think the Bush-Sharon plan for "isolating" Arafat gives us a hint as to the overall approach.