You can bet that the targets have been identified and approved, the coordinates are programmed in and the warheads are already at the ready.
Can't say I agree. What would be the point of annihilating an entire city if only a couple hundred al Qaeda operatives live in its borders? The military has long since grown squeamish at such overkill. Note the almost complete reliance on precision-guided munitions instead of carpet bombing; note the military justice actions against officers who engage in effective interrogation of terrorist prisoners.
And you really want me to believe that we're going to change overnight and give the enemy the Full-Body Atomic Tan if they strike us again? Our catering to special interest groups and the "religion of peace" (gag) says otherwise.
All this "politically correct" garbage goes up in smoke if there is another 9/11 type attack. All of this "religion of peace" stuff being spewed by Bush and others is for public consumption. Privately, they are loaded for bear should another attack occur. We've had over two years to prepare for such a devastating response. Unlike in the aftermath of 9/11, we know where all the targets are. And the targets know that we know where they are.
BTW, I'll go out on a limb here and say that if Algore was president, even he would have such a plan in place, ready to go. Maybe Algore never would have gone into Iraq, hell, we KNOW he wouldn't have gone into Iraq, but you better believe he would have the military ready to act immediately in the case of another 9/11 attack. That said, I'm glad Bush is the president because we now have fewer targets to go after than had Algore been in office.
This is a case of the survival of western civilization. The attacks of 9/11 had very damaging impact on our economy. The airline industry was almost wiped out. In fact, had the terrorists followed up with some raft-launched SAM attacks against commercial airliners off the eastern and western seaboards in the months afterwards, you wouldn't be able to get anybody on a plane again for quite some time.
Look at the enormous costs our economy had to absorb just to ramp up security. My company spent millions of dollars improving security and putting safeguards in place to protect their employees in the aftermath of 9/11. Our field technicians now have 10-15 minutes added to each service call as they must navigate the intricate security measures of the companies they must visit. All of this time costs money and profit margins are negatively impacted.
Another attack could have dire long-term economic impact. What would our economy do if people were afraid to travel, go to the cities, go the the ballgames, etc.?
We cannot afford to live under the threat of terrorist attacks. We will do what we must do to ensure that they do not happen. Even if it requires a spectacular nuclear strike. It's either that, or our way of life will perish.