This is my point. With a nuke, the result for the leaders would be the same regardless if they did it themselves or had someone else do it. That's why MAD works.
Which is why it would never be direct. It would be indirect, and easily deniable.
Think Black Water.
They do things we as a Nation wouldn't "condone". They get caught, we say, sorry, we'll punish them for you...
"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." - John Adams
