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The problem is, if the terrorists do nuke an American city or cities some day, exactly where do we retaliate? Much as the "Texan" in me would like to nuke Mecca and Medina and every other muslim city with over 500,000 people, the Christian in me, which is first and foremost, knows clearly that CANNOT be done. You don't murder civilians 10-1 or 100-1 or 1000-1 compared to the terrorists that would be killed in that kind of retaliation. There are no terrorists cities that even half or more of the occupants are terrorists. And even if there were, unless a nation like China used nukes against us, I couldn't agree with the use of even tactical nuclear weapons in response to a terrorist nuclear attack on the U.S.. The radiation from even just a few nulcear weapons lasts for thousands of years and circles the globe for decades, eventually killing hundreds of thousands no where near the blast zone.

Even though the bombs used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved hundreds of thousands of American soldiers and Marines, compared to invading the Jap home islands, if WWII was today, I doubt we'd of used them, since in '45, no one knew squat about radiation. I mean, we used surplus warships to test nukes in the Pacific, and then had our guys walking the decks taking readings, they all got cancer and died in the years after. There's just no safe way to use them, especially if terrorists are the ones that use them. Very frustrating. I sure hope Bush gets his way and the Patriot Act is made permanent. Clearly the NSA, CIA, FBI and military intelligence have been doing an excellent job since 9/11. That needs to continue and the Patriot Act as it is now is the only way to make that happen.

your assertion about detonating nuclear weapons fallout "killing hundreds of thousands no where near the blast zone" is incorrect. there were dozens and dozens of above ground nuclear tests througout the world before the test ban treaties.

The problem is, if the terrorists do nuke an American city or cities some day, exactly where do we retaliate?

We would not need to take credit – it was just an accident that happened to the terrorists who destroyed American cities. Terrorist bomb makers have accidents all the time.