I started trying to read the whole thread then got kinda bored with it all. But in the spirit of pretending to be the POTUS after it got nuked by militant muslim terrorists ... the following seems evident:
The people will want blood (just like everytime our soil's been attacked in the past). The fact a nuke was used will undoubtedly cause many to call for equal measure. But in reality, it doesn't matter if they used a nuke or a thousand and one terrorists went on a killing spree with butter knives. You've got a really big stick.
a: If you give them blood, later they'll say you went too far.
b: If you don't give them blood, they'll say you're impotent.
c: Whatever choice or tactic is chosen, you probably won't be
president next term.
So that pretty well takes domestic politics outa the pic.
So then .... what we have here is escalation of world tension caused by extremists bent on irradication of everyone who isn't a fellow extemist. Nuking capitals will probably make everyone nervous (not just Middle East potentates) and it may cause all the sheiks to tow the line but the crazy holy men will simply martyr the dead and keep stirring the jihad pot. IF you get away with one nuking that don't mean it'll end the thing, at all. And additional nukings will just end up leading to someone, somewhere, with a button we don't control .... pushing it.
Americans haven't been well loved or respected by much of the world since around the time of the Vietnam war. AAMOF, that's usually one of the battlecries - "Remember VietNam!" Yet the security of U.S. citizens and the responsibility of protecting U.S. soil from all forms of attack pretty much demands a swift and unmistakable response. It demands a policy set before the nuke even got detonated. And this policy better damned well not be set by foreign governments.
That's right. May as well release a hundred as well as one. And yup ... everyone that didn't decide to unite against terrorism should be taken out.
Make the policy known. Make it simple and easy to understand. Make it as certain as the rising sun. If a nuke is detonated on U.S. soil .... any nuke .... anytime .... we launch. Better not be on our watermelon list. Thank you.
And you do it .... no debate .... no waffling .... no waiting. Big boom here .... well, they're on their way. Jihad is over. Welcome to a brave new world that glows in the dark.
Someone said .... nukes aren't worth a damn if they're used. They sure as hell aren't worth a damn if everyone knows you WON'T use `em. So there you go. M.A.D. II. That's how it works.
