The way I see it W wimped out for three reasons:
He was afraid of a preemptive military strike being labeled ‘cowboy diplomacy’ by the Washington Press Corp,
His intelligence stabbed him in the back by leading him to believe Iran is 20+ years away from an atomic weapon, and
the party bosses strongly advised W to leave the dirty work for another president, lest he be responsible for oil going to $300/bbl.
Thanks for that. One thing is certain: Dubya did America no favors with that. I mean, when we went into Iraq and Afghanistan I assumed it was to surround Iran. As it is, we had them surrounded, a big army and navy there, world opinion on our side for a while at least, and Iran without all those fancy new weapons they’ve been importing from the Chicoms. Wasn’t taking out Iran the whole point of the exercise? I guess not. Shows you what I know. Nada.