[My2Cents]

Precisely correct. "MAD" worked in a world where the adversaries weren't willing to annihilate the world. East and West were sane enough to build nuclear arsenals without using them. Saddam is different...The reason he's so dangerous is precisely that he would risk detonating a nuke in a large metropolitan area, and risk the consequences.

[JimSEA]

I wish I didn't agree with you but I do. If he had or could get say two or three devices into the USA, he might call up the White House and say, "Watch LA". Set off the bomb and then say, "I have bombs in 5 other cities, if you retaliate or look for them, they go off." If something happens, he sets off the second. Would anyone call his bluff?