Tige -- while an insurgency of the Kurds would be very good to have, both the Barzani and Talabani factions (which are more or less clan-based and fight each other intermittently) have been burnt by US indecision or withdrawal at least three times before:
I can't imagine any scenario other than a WMD attack on the US or a close ally that would lead to a US use of nuclear weapons. In fact, in many cases of WMD attack the correct responce would not be nuclear. For nukes to be worth shooting off, the provocation must be sufficient, but that's only half of the equation, the political half. The other half is military: the target must also be suitable.
So far we have faced nothing that would justify the use of nuclear arms, from a strictly military viewpoint.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Attack on Israel by Saddam using WMD will create a real problem to us. If Israel attack Iraq with her own nukes, we may have all-out Mid-East war. So it is better for U.S. to use its own WMD(battlefield nukes) for retaliation. The purpose is to keep fights within U.S.(and its local allies) and Iraq. No new combatant, especially Israel, should be brought in. This is for U.S.'s benefit, not just doing Israel a favor.
As for U.S. troops being attacked by WMD, I am still not convinced that 100 FAE or bunker busters will do the job for retaliation.
As for targets for nuke, I heard there are several large underground command bunkers in Iraq. Any of them could be a good target. Or you can drop it at the troops even if they are scattered. Such as a Republican Guard tank division in the desert.
As I said before, good deal depends on spook operation to sow dissention inside Iraqi regime. If we can convince some of them that they have a future in new Iraq, they may come to U.S. side with secret materials and knowledge and even military units. If this operation can neutralize Saddam's scud missiles by disabling command and control of the system, that will be a great coup. The job of military should be made as small as possible. I think that military operation is only 50% of the equation, political/intelligence operation is another 50%.