IMHO, that opportunity was sown when the Congress led by Teddy and John F'n Kerry decided we must lose the Vietnam War and made sure of it; and then Jummah Cahtah threw the Shah under the bus and installed the Ayatollah. Jihadists in the Middle East easily recognized the vacuum and rushed to fill it.
I would agree with that...
We lacked then and still lack the will to fix that mistake.