I think that prior to 9-11 any President who instructed the militaries to have contingency plans for shooting down civilian airliners would have come in for some real heat. The opposition, either opposition, would be screaming "What if it went wrong!!", and so on.

Up to that time hijackers landed someplace and negotiated. None of them ever used the plane as a missile.

So, we weren't ready. It's one of the things which seems reasonable in hindsight, but that's been the history of guerilla warfare - hit 'em where they are the weakest. Now that we have patrols I'll bet they don't try it again. They'll hit us some other place where we aren't expecting it. A tunnel under the Embassy in Italy is one place. Or at a refueling station in Yemen.

The last place would be the Olympics or SuperBowl. And they could cause a lot of havoc there just by hoaxes.

As liberal as I am, I think anyone doing that should be caught and shot so as to be done with them. My "liberality" extends to trying to understand the cause of it all so as to prevent it.

Arf