There has to be a difference between how you react to a country that has working nukes and one that does not. It is like dealing with two punk kids, one that has an attitude and one that has a loaded .38 - you can just kick the first one's butt but you have to be more careful with the one that is armed.
That is the very reason we have to deal with Saddam now, before he gets nukes and becomes another kid on the block with a loaded .38.