[XJarhead]

The thing about Tancredo's comments that struck me as being so dumb is that it's like kicking your dog because your wife made you mad. If one of our cities gets nuked, then nuking the capital of an Arab nation that aided or abetted the terrorist group in question may be a legitimate response. Threatening that makes some sense as well because it creates a big-time incentive for governments to crack down on terrorists.

But threatening to nuke Mecca is supposed to accomplish....what, exactly? I suspect there would be a fair number of radical moslem groups who wouldn't be too upset at that because, rightly or wrongly, they think it might help their cause. So it doesn't even have a predictable deterrent effect.

[E Rocc]

But threatening to nuke Mecca is supposed to accomplish....what, exactly? I suspect there would be a fair number of radical moslem groups who wouldn't be too upset at that because, rightly or wrongly, they think it might help their causse.

As Osama bin Laden would be immediately arrested upon setting foot in Saudi Arabia, Mecca is worth far more to him as a destroyed "martyr city" than as a place of worship.

-Eric

[RedRover]

Well, if New York got nuked, and I was dying of radiation poisoning, at least I'd die happy knowing Mecca was a pile of glowing sand.
Kind of selfish, I grant you. If I were a better person, I suppose I'd fold paper cranes in my last hours. But I think I'll be a little too cranky for origami.