It takes time to fill those warheads, it takes time to produce that anthrax and VX, it takes time to hunt down opposition leaders, it takes time to smuggle materials and parts in and WMD out. Hey, give enough time and we can just settle for being blackmailed by yet another terrorist sponsor for the next 50 years as happened with North Korea.
The church didn't stop 9/11 and cannot stop terrorism because terrorists don't give a rat's behind what the church thinks, unless they can get the church to buy time for them, in which case they will engage in any talks they can. They will keep on killing and people like Hussein will keep on funding terrorism, no matter how much some pacifists get in our way. Note that pacifists never get in the way of the sort of people who start wars- they only get in the way of the people who have to finish them. Why? Because pacifists are always LATE. They're like cockroaches, and only come out after someone's punched out your lights!
The Vatican seems to be confused into thinking the war hasn't begun yet. Heck, a lot of people seem to be confused about that.
But you see, we ALREADY are at war. The time for the Pope's intervention was more than a decade ago. Intervening in it now just gives more time to the individuals who started the war, so that the may kill more of their own dissidents (take note of the Kurdish leaders who were recently killed) , and plan more defenses and move more and more weapons into his cities where civilians and schools and hospitals will act as shields, and have time to put more and more agents in place overseas, perhaps even here.
Anything short of force now will only leave the Baathists in power and the Iraqi people will be right back where they started and frankly, so will we- in a one-sided war where we take whatever terrorists and their supporters care to dish out, or have to adjust to having to leave terrorists be because they have nukes. Terrorists will find a total safehaven there, forever untouchable because it would be impossible to motivate anyone to remove them if we do not do it now. The terrorists would have all the encouragement they need from their political success and their duping of well-meaning, but foolish pacifists, and that will only lead to increased use of nameless, blameless terrorism by states who wish to manipulate public opinion as Iraq has so successfully done.
Note that pacifists never get in the way of the sort of people who start wars- they only get in the way of the people who have to finish them.