[Phsstpok]

Our ability to restrain ourselves is underrated. We are the only nation to have used nukes and we will be loath to repeat that against a civilian population.

Both rational and arguable and I waffle between your position and the one I expressed.  The above has been my default position for many years.  However, I've grown MUCH more cynical since the Dubai ports lemming stampede.

Shep Smith and Aaron Brown will hype the footage of even a "tiny" nuke (as if a nuke can be tiny) and the sheeple will demand blood. Personally I'd rather nuke Mecca than have a herd of murderous no-nothing sheep choose to slaughter their neighbor (or the guy at the 7-11) because they thought they might be a Muslim. 

Here's a thought.  If we nuke Mecca we'll "piss off" many who already want us dead and maybe a few who might let us live as dhimmi, but I bet there will also be a pot load of Muslims who will blame Bin Laden and the Iranian Mullahs.  And they're much more accessible as an outlet for their anger...

At times my cynicism gets the better of me. I'm probably leaning more towards "nuke 'em till they glow" right now partly because I'm in the middle of reading Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War (for the first time in 35 years - and then it was only excerpts, now I'm reading the whole thing)

As to plausible deniability... I don't think anyone will get the opportunity to raise the issue and, if anyone does, I wouldn't want to be standing near them when they do such a foolish thing.

Niven's Laws number 1A

Never throw s**t at an armed man

Niven's Laws number 1B

Never stand next to someone throwing s**t at an armed man

 

[NAVY84]

I think you are correct about citizens wanting blood but, I believe that we will be able to do as well with a conventional response. The nuke response would in my opinion be used only for 'The Big One'. The U.S. would take way to much shiite for a nuke response to be worth the effort. I do not believe a nuke here is a significant threat at the moment. We get a heads up I think in the form of a nuke in Israel before we see one here. In that case Israel goes down swinging so we would get to pick our target list from their leftovers.

Our response will not cause or prevent the guy at the 7-11's suffering. More likely his leaders here will control how he is treated. The U.S. muslim leadership will have only a short period of time to respond correctly or suffer the consequences. A number of muslims dancing in the streets after a nuke attack (or any attack for that matter) will seal their fates IMHO.