Mecca to Become World's Largest Glass-Topped Parking Lot?

GOP Congressman Tom Tancredo suggests that if the Islamic radicals detonate a nuclear device in the US, perhaps an unscheduled sunrise might be appropriate for their holy sites:

A Colorado congressman told a radio show host that the U.S. could "take out" Islamic holy sites if Muslim fundamentalist terrorists attacked the country with nuclear weapons.

Rep. Tom Tancredo made his remarks Friday on WFLA-AM in Orlando, Fla. His spokesman stressed he was only speaking hypothetically.

Talk show host Pat Campbell asked the Littleton Republican how the country should respond if terrorists struck several U.S. cities with nuclear weapons.

"Well, what if you said something like if this happens in the United States, and we determine that it is the result of extremist, fundamentalist Muslims, you know, you could take out their holy sites," Tancredo answered.

"You're talking about bombing Mecca," Campbell said.

"Yeah," Tancredo responded.

The congressman later said he was "just throwing out some ideas" and that an "ultimate threat" might have to be met with an "ultimate response."

This kind of rhetoric won't help the conservative cause because it turns the war on terror into a war on Islam. Allah only knows that Islam has lots of problems and a sizeable number of kooks, but even the best estimate only puts that number at about 1% (that's still about 12,000,000 radicals, roughly the same population as Hugh Hewitt's home state of Ohio).

The Irish Republican Army committed a lot of terrorist acts in Northern Ireland and Great Britain, but would it have been appropriate for the English to take out the Vatican in response?
This reminds me of a "weather report" for Afghanistan that was published shortly after the 9/11 attacks:

Tancredo has some good ideas when it comes to combating illegal immigration, and he's certainly leading the charge when it comes to enforcing our borders, but his statements in this matter will only serve to marginalize his views on other issues where he could make a difference.