Nuke Mecca?

There is a great deal of discussion online about one possible solution to the problem of terrorism: threaten to blow Mecca off the map unless the terrorists stop their attacks. (Go to Google and type in “Nuke Mecca” and see how many web pages you get.) That suggestion, a sort of making them an offer they can’t refuse, is certainly one end of the spectrum. Of course the other end is doing nothing, turning the other cheek so to speak. I don’t think either of these extreme approaches, yin or yang, is the answer. I’m not even sure that somewhere in between is the answer. I’m not sure there is an answer, but we can still ask questions. One thing I do believe is that the Islamic community could take a more active role in preventing suicide bombings. Families of suicide bombers could be more active in preventing the suicides of their loved ones. Communities could stop tacitly allowing the kinds of organizations that recruit these bombers to exist, much less to flourish. As long as the Islamic community is soft on terrorism, America must be hard.