My two cents....

First of all, I absolutely loved this movie, and have watched it several times over the years...

I like political thrillers like this film, Fail Safe, The Bedford Incident, Seven Days in May, Three Days of the Condor, Twilight's Last Gleaming, By Dawn's Early Light , The Parallax View, The Manchurian Candidate etc.

Okay, a couple of things...

1-President Emerson doesn't know for certain whether the nukes that Iraq has are real or fake.The previous President, while on his death bed and incoherent, told him a story about America surreptitiously supplying Iraq with phoney nukes.

So Hutton and even Pollak don't know for sure what they are dealing with....

2-Most of America's force are tied down on the Korean peninsula in a 'Cold' or 'Hot' war with the Chinese...

Part of Emerson's strategy and actions is to convince the Chinese to back down in Korea.Something that he is confident will now happen after they see America nuking Iraq...

"Today, the United States sent a message to the world.If our national security is threatened, we have nuclear weapons, and we will use them."

"When China backs down, was it all for nothing?" Pollak asks Hutton.

So 'Deterrence', it failed in Iraq but will end up being successful in Korea.

I agree though, using a nuke should not be your first choice.Wouldn't want to see what nuking Baghdad does to the price of gasoline, the stock market, or are relations with the rest of the world...

Then again, Iraq was going to nuke our allies too, so they might not be too upset.

America would need to be prepared for a generations long Jihad against it, and its interests around the world though...

And we would be in the 'Dog House' diplomatically forever...