[okie01]

"And although they would almost definitely use the threat as propaganda throughout the Middle East I still think that we wouldnt see anymore terrorist attacks."

I believe, if we announced a policy to nuke Mecca in the event of another al-Qaeda attack on our soil, it would guarantee another attack. Whereupon, they would wait gleefully for us to follow through...

The terrorists would dearly love for us to do something that would unite the entire Islamic world against us (and with them). In their eyes, sacrificing Mecca to a martyr's fate would be a small price to pay.

Terrorists aren't like you and me. They don't think the way we do.

[fiftymegaton]

This can be debated I guess but I think that the entire Islamic world is already united against us and that the only problem would be getting someone with enough b-lls to actually push the button.