The one thing that made September 11th possible was that the passengers and crews of the planes weren't thinking in terms of the planes being used as missiles.Hi-jacking for them, as for the rest of us, meant being diverted to some strange airport, and maybe the planes might get destroyed after the passengers had disembarked.

In those circumstances, sitting tight and keeping quiet was only the rational thing to do.

Since September 11th, it is impossible for the same scenario to be played out. There will be more atrocities, but never again quite that one.

If the authorities had any reason to think that this new twist on hi-jacking was on the cards, and they failed to let the rest of us know that, that would have been grossly irresponsible, and would have been a major factor in the disaster. And that is the question that needs to be settled.