[Magician]

They have destroyed our symbols. [Photo of the twin towers going up in flames]

We must destroy their symbols. [Photos of the El-Aksa mosque on the Temple Mount and the Kaba building in Mecca.]

That was pretty much my original take on the matter, too.

The Muslim terrorists will not stop until they realize that the War is too costly. Since they frame their war as a Jihad, and they present no "return address" we may have to attack some icons of the Muslin world.

Let me suggest some:

1. Sieze the Gulf oil fields. Nothing will take the wind out of the sails of the Muslim Arab world faster than this.

2. Impose a Carthaginian peace on Afghanistan to make it an example to other nations such as Syria or Iraq of the cost of harboring these people [Let no stone rest upon another. Sow the land with salt. Etc.]

3. Tear down some of their holy places: Dome of the Rock, El Aksa, the Kaaba, the Great Mosque of Mecca. They don't hesitate to destroy any holy place of another religion, as illustrated by their recent destruction of the Great Bhudda of Afghanistan or their recent conversion of Jacob's tomb to a mosque.

Our present course of action of chasing bin Laden will only give us a small victory. It will not end the War.

Stay tuned. You'll see.

[CubicleGuy]

... we may have to attack some icons of the Muslin world.

Where is that exactly? Isn't that the section of Macy's where you can buy bedsheets and stuff? ;-)

[Stat Man]

On Sept. 12, I was already telling people that we would not win this war because we didn't have the will to do what it would take. People would say, "Yes, we do!!" and then ask what it would take. I would respond "Nuke Mecca" and then explain why that was necessary. All agreed we won't do it.

Why is it necessary? This author was on the right track talking about the symbolism, but it goes a bit further. Have you ever asked yourself why the Japanese and Germans don't still hate us en masse? We didn't end WW2 just by destroying the capabilities of our enemies to fight. We destroyed their desire to fight by discrediting their beliefs. The Germans had a personality cult built around Hitler. The Japanese went even further, worshipping their emperor as a god. America showed them their gods were impotent, precipitating serious personal crises of faith among their populations.

When extremists believe in a violent Allah and worship an intangible, it's a bit harder to discredit their beliefs. Nuking Kabul and Baghdad, for example, would probably just make their belief more fervent. However the Muslim holy sites are critical to their beliefs. How could Allah allow Mecca to be obliterated? As we did with Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we would be answering terror with an even greater horror. I feel sorry for the peaceful Muslims whose faith would also be challenged, but if we want to win, that is what it will take.