So if the IRA had gone to WMD and hit London hard, the Brits should have nuked the Vatican, since the IRA were Catholic extremists? Or at least nuked Dublin, even though the Irish govt wasn't supporting them?

Yes, I know it's not quite comprable -- the clerical establishment in Saudi Arabia is much more aligned with al-Queda than the Catholic church was with Irish nationlists, but still not ALL muslims are against us. Lots of them sure, but "lots" is a lot better than having nearly a billion Muslims, from Turkish rug merchants to Indonesian sneaker factory owners to Pakistani cab drivers in New York, all enraged at America. Carpet-nuking the Pakistani northwest provinces where we are pretty sure al-Queda leadership is hiding, you could sell that to me, but Mecca would just be stupid.