No one is follish enough to believe that Jihad is run by a single man. What I mean, simply put, is that we knock out as many of their leaders and power bases as possible with one swift, decisive blow. And yes, they have entrenched themselves in such a way that this will cause the deaths of many "innocents" but that blood must be on their hands...
"the offer of more horrific retaliation"? On whose part, the Jihad? Because what the Jihad is doing is not retaliation, it is aggression, an act of war.
I fear that a nuclear detonation may be the only realistic way to accomplish these ends....