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December 12, 2002 -- President Bush was absolutely right to make it clear that America will go nuclear - literally - if Saddam Hussein were to use weapons of mass destruction against America or its allies. On that point, there needs to be no confusion. His warning to Saddam echoed that made by George H.W. Bush back in January 1991, on the eve of the Gulf War - when the then-president gave notice that Iraq would "pay a terrible price" if it used chemical or biological weapons. Given Saddam's public threat to unleash a fire that would "eat up half of Israel" - and given what America later found out about Saddam's crash program to make an atomic bomb in 1990 - this was a timely admonition. It may have saved many lives. The United States maintains a nuclear arsenal precisely to deter the use of weapons of mass destruction against itself. But for that deterrent to be effective - now and in the future - it must be unmistakably clear that America will not shrink from using that nuclear arsenal. Furthermore, if Israel is to be expected to stand aside during an American-led war to unseat Saddam Hussein - a step helpful if not essential for the maintenance of a local anti-Saddam coalition - then it too must know that it will be protected from Saddam's Scuds. And from whatever else he has in his arsenal. Saddam should be under no illusion: If he dares to use nerve gas, biological agents or - God forbid! - radiologic bombs against anyone while U.S. forces are in the Gulf, he - and he alone - will then be responsible for what happens next.

No ifs.

No ands.

No buts.