If they had cameras that clearly showed every possible viewpoint of the orbiter and the tanks/boosters during launch, then they might have seen the debris strike, and had the presense of mind to abort the launch.

I think there is an emergency landing site in Spain. They've never used it. They've never aborted a launch. I imagine it would be a hard choice to make on-the-fly. Anyone who did would have to justify it afterwards. Now THERE is a serious need for protocols, both enabling such a split-second abort decision to be made, and which are solid enough to defend in the aftermath.