[Poohbah]

You're assuming that the US will deploy massive forces. This won't be Desert Storm, a six-month buildup to 500,000 troops in-theater and then one massive Gottdammerung tank battle decides the whole shebang. It will instead be a war of a thousand squad and platoon-sized firefights over a period of years. They COULD use a nuke over there, but they just wouldn't be able to kill that many Americans--it'd kill a lot more of them, and probably convince every one of their neighbors that they need killin'.

[Loopy]

They COULD use a nuke over there, but they just wouldn't be able to kill that many Americans--it'd kill a lot more of them

Maybe that's the point. We know that they are fond of giving their lives for Islam.