I'd say it would depend on the provocation.
If it seriously comes down to us or them... We have the intestinal fortitutde to eradicte islam (however painfully) from the face of the planet. But then every nation has the survival instinct -- what seperates us apart from most every other nation is that in addition to the will, we have the means.
Welllll, maybe if they took out Barbra Streisand...
Maybe not, but if we can burn over half a million acres in California by accident, I'll bet we can cook up something for our misguided brethren in the Middle East..
You can bet that the targets have been identified and approved, the coordinates are programmed in and the warheads are already at the ready. This isn't like 9/11 when we were caught flat-footed. We know where most of the remaining terrorists are operating now. Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, even parts of Pakistan among other places. Any attack on the scale of 9/11 will be met within minutes by a massive nuclear attack on various targets throughout the Middle East where we have indications that terrorist activity exists. Now I'm not talking about doomsday here, I'm talking a controlled tactical nuclear strike that will for one and for all, wipe the majority of these terrorists off the planet.
You must understand. The economic impact of 9/11 was very, very substantial. Not only can the United States not afford a repeat, the entire western world cannot afford a repeat. If there is another attack on that scale, there will be no puttering around at the U.N. There will be no hand-wringing in the halls of Congress. By the time FoxNews breaks in to cover the attacks, the missiles will be on their way and most of the remaining terrorists will go bye-bye. Unfortunately, there will be innocent people who die in this response as well. But there's nothing we can do about that. The usual suspects like France and Germany will squeal and fuss, but deep down inside, they will feel relieved that we acted as we did. They will never admit it though.
I feel strongly about this. I believe that our government is prepared for just such a scenario and that they are prepared to respond to it with devastating force. In fact, it's quite possible that these intentions have already "been explained" to certain parties and that may explain why no major attacks have been carried out since 9/11.
I am inclined to agree. We've made war so precise and directed with our laser-guided conventional weapons that something as titanic and ham-fisted as a thermonuclear bomb would seem like a step backward.
Moreover, we're dealing with a decentralized enemy. That alone invalidates use of city-annihilating weaponry. Sure, if all of al Qaeda was holed up in Mecca or Beirut, I'd say "nuke 'em"...but that's not how they're fighting this war. They -- like all other guerillas -- are hiding amongst civilians in largely non-industrial areas.
Nuclear weapons were ideal for nation-to-nation wars, but they are wholly inappropriate for use in fighting terrorist groups. To suggest such use is like recommending a threshing machine to lance a boil.
Yeah, that striping contract is going to be huge!
One thing: They'll have enough room to make each space 14 feet wide, better to accomodate all of those HMMWV's.
Good thing it doesn't rain much there, because wet traction on glass has got to be a real problem.