There's a great podcast called Hardcore History[2] which has some significance here. There's a podcast titled something similar to "Justifiable Insanity" that talks about the end of WW2. People got into the mental trap of "Well, if we do something particularly heinous, they'll HAVE to surrender!". This lead to things like firestorms of Dresden and Hamburg, which had immense (esp. for the time period) death tolls.[0][1] So, be careful with the tactic of "Well, if something REALLY bad happens.."

[0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Hamburg_in_World_War... [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War... [2]: http://www.dancarlin.com/disp.php/hharchive