If I can recall my Grade 12 History course, Isreal had 4 major wars: Liberation War, Suez War, Seven Days War and October War and atleast one started ( The Seven Days War, I think) with a pre-emptive attack by Isreal, and they were joining PM Eden in the war for Suez because Col. (Probablly offical title of President?) Gamel-Nasser nationalised the Suez Canel. So technically they were the agressors in two wars already.
Then again, I'm far from an expert in the history of the middle east.
Oh, And I don't believe the US has ever attacked an Arab country because the nationality of Iraq is Persian (Before you tell me that the Nationality of Iraq is Iraqi, Please note the difference between a country and nation). But, again, I'm not an expert on wars the US has declared either.
So niether of those are really cliches historically speaking. Maybe so in the literary sense.