THE WAR SKEPTICS who allege that Iraq is contained, that Saddam Hussein poses no immediate threat to the United States, and that there is no evidence the Butcher of Baghdad is willing to share his weapons of mass destruction with such terrorists as al Qaeda, should be obliged to tell us something: Exactly which American city are they willing to bet that they’re right?

Pittsburgh? Newark? Cheyenne? San Diego? Which city are the doubters willing to risk see turned into a smoking, irradiated atomic wasteland or a contaminated bioweapon no-man’s land?