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>>The bomb itself won't. The panic afterwards, the fights for food, water and shelter, the rioting might. . . Ok Chicken Little, how many megatons was Ivan equivalent to? We'll deal with it.

Oh no you won't. If the mad moos detonate a nuke, no matter how small in say NYC, and then announce to the Washington Post, the LA Times, Atlanta Journal, all the TV networks that if their list of demands aren't met (impossible demands, such as Bush shot by a firing squad, all troops out of the middle east in 24 hours, Israeli government arrested and shot) then the next American city will be destroyed.

Immagine the panic and lawlessness as every big city that thinks that it is a target has it's population flee for the hills. It would take months for order to be somewhat restored. Maybe a decade before we got back to where we were.

In the mean time the world economy would come to a halt. All US resources would be used to keep the US together and the mad moos would have pretty much free reign for a while until we got ourselves back together.

The fabric of civilization is thin and fragile and it doesn't take much to rend it.

[Immagine the panic]

That is the desired result of terrorism, isn't it?

No sale.

The "mad moos", as you call them, rely upon western moral restraint for their survival.

If a nuclear weapon was detonated in an American city, I think you could safely assume that the protection afforded by moral restraint would be dramatically reduced.

Savage is as Savage does.

[In the mean time the world economy would come to a halt.]

I'm sure the Euros will happily rush in to fill the vacuum.

[All US resources would be used to keep the US together]

This will make isolationists happy. Many Americans would prefer to sever parasitic foreign relationships. Buh bye national debt....

Yes, things will change - but for those who have the will and who have not allowed themselves to be super-sized into immobile cash-cows, life will go on. We are a nation of survivors and builders. We'll deal with it.

[the mad moos would have pretty much free reign for a while until we got ourselves back together.]

Ivan and the Chi-coms might disagree - and I doubt they'll be nearly as accommodating as we have been.

Go ahead, take the United States off the chess board.

Who do the mad-moos think it is that's standing between them and annihilation by Ivan and the Chi-coms?

Moral restraint was never ol' Khan's strong suit.

Immagine the panic and lawlessness as every big city that thinks that it is a target has it's population flee for the hills. It would take months for order to be somewhat restored. Maybe a decade before we got back to where we were.

I don't think so. In WWII people didn't panic and head for the hills when they saw other cities were being bombed.

When a hurricane comes to Florida, people have to be encouraged to evacuate.

It depends a lot on the people you are talking about. Americans carry guns, anyone who acts up is liable to get shot.