Swamp,
While I agree nukes are out of question, I think your statement falls short. It's not a matter of precision streaks. IMHO, any country harboring not a particular person, but this kind of ideology has to be declared formal enemy, and a state of war bewteen such COUNTRY and the civilised world, not only U.S. It's their ideology, their ethics, their table of values which are in front and opposed to ours. They've shown, tragically, that they will use whatever means at their disposal to try to overcome. I think it's time western countries behave accordingly. The threat is not X, W or Z people. They can (and will) be replaced if they are killed.
This attack is the first step of a ladder. They wanted to mark open hostilities with a symbolic target. But we have to expect worse things to come, at least I think. It's time all of our governments reassess the situation and realize that we are at war. Sure, not conventional, but at war. This is not terrorism, this is not mass murder. This is WAR. Not more, not less.
We have limitations, as we use concepts like countries, civil rights, etc. I'm not saying we forget that, but we definitely have to revisit what are the boundaries. If a country's regime is of a terrorist nature (and Taliban's ones are), the country is bound for retaliation. If a community is of a terrorist nature (I'm thinking now on the people throwing stones to college girls in Ireland, or people placing bombs in public places) it's bound for retaliation. In one case, I think military measures are on order. The hardest possible, excluding mass destruction weapons. In the second situation, It's time for thinking our values. If a thousand new jails are needed to put those people to rest, build them. Put this kind of people out of circulation.
As Sax posted in another thread, U.S. has taken the biggest blow in the name of all of us. Now we have to unite and act together. This is not U.S. vs. Afghanistan, Islam, whatever. This is US (I mean all of us) vs. THEM (all kind of terrorism, state terrorism, national, international, religious, whatever). And, as certain as I'm posting here, this is war.