[Star Traveler]

You were saying ...

Nice thought, but you do realize, don’t you that our pResident will not, under any circumstances, authorize release of ANY nuclear weapons?

Well, I can assure you that neither would Bush authorize the use of any nuclear weapons under this circumstance either...

Just think about it for a minute. We endured 9/11 and President Bush never authorized any nuclear weapons to be used in that response. This is nowhere near even a "blip" compared to 9/11.

It would take something a whole lot more than 9/11 to get nukes to be used... As to what that would be? Perhaps some weapons of mass destruction used on several big U.S. cities at the same time. That would probably qualify.

But, the other problem you would have is how to use nuclear weapons on a widely dispersed terrorist group that occupies many different countries ... and that is a big problem.

[Gaffer]

But, the other problem you would have is how to use nuclear weapons on a widely dispersed terrorist group that occupies many different countries ... and that is a big problem.

Nope, just ONE city, one location.....The Hajj in Mecca....

[kristinn]

I think if the plane that was meant for D.C. on 9/11 had taken off on time and hit when and where it was supposed to, either the White House or Capitol, that President Bush would have been urged by the American people to use tactical nukes against al Qaeda and the Taliban as a warning to any state or group to not even think about trying to attack us again.

I think he would have done so.

[worst-case scenario]

This is what the Intelligence services are supposed to be all about: giving us the heads-up about groups like this - and quiet wet-work to get rid of the Bad Guys.

Incinerating hundreds of thousands of people, and poisoning millions more, won’t make us any safer. Even dropping a big bomb on a town where we believe them to be hiding (somewhere) can have severe blow-back.

We ought to do this the right way: quietly, efficiently, murderously. Our agents should be dropping these dudes with poisons and other tactics that look natural. We shouldn’t even be hearing these terrorist’s names, because they never live lone enough to get famous.

And give the t-shirt vendor who reported the smoke a ticker-tape parade. Make him famous. Bloomberg, give him a cash prize.

Make it pay off in fame and fortune for the everyday citizens who stop these kinds of attacks. Turn every citizen into an intelligence operative, as it were.

We all have to hang together, as Franklin said.