You said -- "However, the word needs to get back to them, if they use nukes against us, we will turn all of the Muslim world... ALL OF IT... into a wasteland, starting with Mecca, Qom, Tehran, Damascus, etc."
I still don't see (when people mention this option) what kind of deterrence that has. Most of the people in those places you mentioned have no ideas what is going on. They are not involved in operations. They don't fight in the wars and so on. They couldn't stop a single terrorist operation if they tried. So, I fail to understand what they have to do with it.
Now, on the other hand, I think the religion of Islam should be destroyed. That's another matter. I think we can destroy that and allow those people (the millions of current Muslims) find another religion. It's an evil religion and that religion needs to be destroyed, because it's a Satanic religion and it has them enslaved (just as the Bible points out that Satan enslaves and oppresses others through his lies and guile and deception). That's Islam for you.
The people are one thing and the religion is another.
By the way, if you start bombing these other areas because of the Muslims there -- you are going to have to bomb larges areas of the United States, too. If you don't, then there is no consistency to your reasoning.
Regards,
Star Traveler
Any deterrent affect would be minimal. MAD depended on the Soviets being basically rational. The leadership of the hard line countries and their so called freelance allies aren't rational. However, it might give some of them pause, particularly the possibility of the holy sites being destroyed.
However, I'm not interested in deterrence, if this were to happen. This is a declaration of principle to the whole world so that they will understand what we do when we do it, under those specific set of circumstances. I'm not arguing for "deterring" anything after they've used nukes. I'm eliminating all possibility of anyone from there ever having the capability of setting it up again. If they're all dead, innocent and guilty, then there's no one left to make it happen.
That act might then have a deterrent affect on any remaining rational actors elsewhere.
We couldn't do that here anyway, profiling an all.
Without Mecca, Islam is over... no more black rock idol to pray to every day... proving to them and the whole world that their false pagan god is not omnipotent...