[Physicist]

As attractive as the fantasy of nuking Mecca is, and I admit, sometimes it is damned appealing, it won't happen

Let's hope not. How stupid would it be to burn the trump card?

If worse really came to worst--an all-out war between the West and Islam--we'd capture Mecca and Medina. The Muslims are required to visit Mecca. Destroying it would only frustrate them. If instead they had to obtain American permission to perform the Hajj, you can bet that they'd smile past American checkpoints rather than risk being sent home unhajjed. And attacks against Americans would be few and far between if they knew that it would result in a loss of access to Islam's holy sites.

If there's a major attack against America, the smoothest course would be to foment an Islamic revolution in Saudi Arabia. Then, of course, we'd have no choice but to send troops to "stabilize the situation"--and since the Iraq war, we have just the materiel in place to do it.

[Lurking in Kansas]

If worse really came to worst--an all-out war between the West and Islam--we'd capture Mecca and Medina. The Muslims are required to visit Mecca. Destroying it would only frustrate them. If instead they had to obtain American permission to perform the Hajj, you can bet that they'd smile past American checkpoints rather than risk being sent home unhajjed. And attacks against Americans would be few and far between if they knew that it would result in a loss of access to Islam's holy sites.

I like your thinking...

If there is a next time we start by taking control of Saudi Arabia. Since we are already in Iraq, it should take about a week.

We take control of ALL their oil fields. We drop gas to about 30 cents a gallon. (Talk about a boost to the economy!)

We take control of & access to Mecca. Any of the natives get out line; we just shut the place down until they behave.