Dear Andrew,
The battle for the moral high ground on preemptive war is a tough one. Your sentences labor hard (andrewsullivan.com) and surely your gifts of rhetoric are outstanding --still-- me thinks thou dost protect too much.
Without UN Security Council support the cost benefit analysis is negative: terrorist backlash, costs of rebuilding Iraq and loss of civilian life are too high. And don't be naive about our motivations. We are a heroic nation yet we have a dark side too. Some of our politicians/soldiers/citizens would "love" to blow folks away in revenge for 9/11. We're not talking eros love but love of mars-- thanatos!
Yes I am one of those so-called Christian clerics (not a pacifist). The bottom line is that the choice is between an unjust peace and a more unjust war. It is always the lesser of two evils. Immoral or more immoral. We, the most powerful nation in history, must resist our urge to destroy because evil has been done to us. "Vengeance is mine saith the Lord, I will repay" America may be beautiful but we are not God! At the end of the day, our consolation is a just and gracious God who shall have the last word: for we shall all come in (not to oblivion but) the judgement of the triune God. That is the meaning of faith.
Be well,
MGranzen