I responded to what was posted. I don't read the tea leaves in people's brains. That said, I still think you are wrong as for "bomb mercilessly". Saddam would have then been next door waiting to seize Iran's oil fields, Turkey won't let us launch attacks on Iran from there and to reach the good stuff we would have to go deep into Iran. We may have lobbed some missiles, organized some sort of UN sanctions, embargoed the gulf so no tankers could pass, but it wouldn't be anything akin to shock and awe, let alone even bigger.