# Nuke Mecca? Is it on the table? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 18, 2004, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuke-mecca-is-it-on-the-table/251086 "2004-06-18T18:18:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuke-mecca-is-it-on-the-table/251086/81 "2004-06-21T14:44:18Z")
> [@litost](#): > > I have a better solution. Let’s level the entire world. We’ll have no enemies left! Hoo-ray! \*Boom goes London and boom Paree More room for you and more room for me And every city the whole world round Will just be another American town Oh, how peaceful it will be We’ll set everybody free You’ll wear a Japanese kimono And there’ll be Italian shoes for me They all hate us anyhow So let’s drop the big one now Let’s drop the big one now Randy Newman - Drop The Big One \* ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuke-mecca-is-it-on-the-table/251086/82 "2004-06-21T15:24:31Z")
> [@Aagramn](#): > > /feeble parody mode on > > Osama Bin Laden - “If we bomb Disneyland, American morale will collapse and we will be victorious!” > > /feeble parody mode off Doesn’t strike me as a parody. Substitute the words “World Trade Center, Pentagon, and whatever Flight 093 was aiming at” for “Disneyland”, and it sounds more like a description. Of course, to be fair, nuking Mecca would be based on the same motives and thinking. Which is why it would be a dumb idea, IMO. Mecca is neither a tactical nor a strategic target, even in an all-out war, so why waste effort on it? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuke-mecca-is-it-on-the-table/251086/83 "2004-06-21T15:48:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Dunno, do you think the Jews would be a little irked if you nuked Jeruselum? > [@](#): > > Heck, let’s nuke Mecca and Jerusalem, just to show we’re being even-handed Seeing as how Jerusalem is holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians alike, nuking it and rendering the area uninhabitable would solve the whole problem. But it would have to be done by someone with a Christian-Jewish-Muslim background, or the Tasaday tribe or something. ---
**Author:** ![Atticus\_Finch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Atticus\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atticus_Finch)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuke-mecca-is-it-on-the-table/251086/84 "2004-06-21T23:48:43Z")
> [@Alan Owes Bess](#): > > Any physical object that people of a particular religious cult are exhorted to bow towards in their prayers is an idol, whether it has the shape of a human, an animal, or the shape of a building is immaterial. You’re wrong. The Black Stone isn’t an idol and isn’t particularly venerated. See [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=253704&) for a full discussion. So is Rome worthless? New York? If all New York was bulldozed, yet noone died, would you say “I don’t care, they were worthless anyway”? If you don’t have any particular beef with Islam, why does your handle appear to be a joke about Allah (Alan Owes Bess = “Allah knows best”). ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuke-mecca-is-it-on-the-table/251086/85 "2004-06-22T00:22:45Z")
For a quick and dirty analogy of how the world would respond to the US bombing Mecca, you might want to think about the world’s response when the Taliban [blew up a couple of ancient Buddhist statues.](http://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/central/03/12/afghan.buddha.02/) I think that the statues helped show the world that the Taliban was a bunch of loonies and helped sway world opinion towards the US invading. Although these weren’t used as religious icons, the world opinion was that it was an act of colossal stupidity. Trust me, only madmen would nuke Mecca. If you really want to be part of a country that holds religions for blackmail, then (ironically) all I can say is God help you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuke-mecca-is-it-on-the-table/251086.md?page=4)