Who cares about Damascus or Khartoum? Do you think the threat of us nuking Damascus is gonna make the extremsists in Indonesia come around? They could care less.
The threat of us nuking Mecca though. That gets their attention, or as my father used to say. "Gets them by the short and curlies"
"Grab them by the balls, and their hearts and minds will follow."
-H.R. Haldeman
-Here's a variation on what you said.