Lets say islamic fudamentalist's overthrow most of the governments in the middle east and cuts of the oil which results in a global economic collapse. The collapse destablizes the U.S. and the military eventually takes over the U.S. government in a coup and decides to punish the islamic world by launching nuclear warheads at the two holiest sites of islam?Would all hell break loose?
Even if we were barbarians, that would be totally unacceptable. Nukes are unacceptable!!! Bombing holy cities is unacceptable!!! If we ever got to that point, this world would fall into a Somali-Afghani hell; warlords everywhere, life as cheap as a bullet...
What if washington, new york, LA and dallas all got nuked in a terrorist attack? Would there be a nuclear response?
Omegaseven What if your grandmother was dragged by her nostrils by some ham fisted goon down a dusty street and thrown upon a steaming pile of pig shit to be pissed upon by a small group of giggling long-haired madmen? It would probably piss you off, right?
If any of these WHAT IFS happened, we would already be living in a 'Dark Angel' world. If we initiate nuking our enemies, then we would open ourselves up to any and all retribution, since then even average 'muslims' would be radicalized, why should the rule of law apply to them, when we would really be living in the rules of the jungle??