Prof., you probably know the cases better than I but there seems to be a common fatal tendency that tyrants, thugs, and dictators have: they tend to strike a little too quickly. They cannot restrain themselves long enough to finish the weapon or wait for the other guy to be looking away. Then they cannot sustain the initial advantage because their prep wasn't finished and the good guys get those critical moments to close the breach. It is probably because of bad intel, with aides too afraid to tell the truth and the bad guy is puffed up with their own invincibility. Saddam entering Kuwait without his nuke, Little Kim popping his test before he had a viable delivery system, Kerry almost undoing the RAT election strategerie [how wide the margin of victory if he kept quiet?]
That said, can the Iranians wait long enough for the RATs to work their magic in Congress before making a move in Iraq that reawakens our sleeping giant? Or a RAT opens his mouth a little too soon and the silent majority has time to scream. That is the only way out: someone makes a mistake. Let's hope history repeats itself.
Today it was Rummy. Tomorrow it's Bolton. Then they'll line Cheney up in their sights.