"No doubt AQ is trying to get nukes, but if they had them in country, they'd have already used them." Why do you think this? Could AQ not already have some nukes in place but want to wait until more are in place or even wait until the moon is in the right place?
One or two is all it would take for the U.S. to slip into chaos - or at least cease to exist as we know it ... and whatever place the moon has to be in to be "right", it's been there 3 or 4 times already since 9-11.