So DG, what precisely is your interceptor going to do? Would you as a private citizen with no access to national security information, really want to know?
On the basis of 29 years of hi-jackings, no aircraft had ever been deliberatley flown into any building, multiple hi-jackings had been attempted and carried out previously. Had you been in the hot seat on the morning of September 11th 2001, what exactly is it that would have prompted you to launch the might and resources of NORAD against those aircraft? To do what?
The reasons why an investigation into what happened on 9/11 is so damn unnecessary is because the mistakes made were both legion and bloody obvious: - most lax airport security in the world, you'd even forgotten the lessons learned in "Take-this-plane-to-Cuba" days. - complacency among the flying public of the USA that led to them believing that getting onto an aircraft was as easy as getting onto a bus. - complacency that the fostered belief was "It will never happen hear."
I find it somewhat confusing that you are so insistent in demanding an independent, high level investigation in order to learn from your mistakes, but at the same time you say that, "It doesn't matter what the policies and procedures were prior to 9/11." But DG it is vital that that independent, high level, investigation focuses on the policies and procedures in place at that time. Or has your idea of an independent, high level investigation got some other agenda - I suspect it has - you little rascal!!
My solution by the way to prevent such a thing happening again is as follows: - Secure cockpit doors - already done - Failsafe auto-pilot feature which in the event of an incident is activated either, by the pilot, air-marshal or member of cabin crew. - The auto-pilot once engaged cannot be disengaged or over-ridden. - Auto-pilot is programmed to fly the aircraft to designated military airfields, these diversionary fields being automatically altered/up-dated as the aircraft proceeds on it's journey until such time as an incident occurs. - Aircraft lands on full-auto and comes to a halt, engines are shut down automatically and cannot be restarted, emergency doors and chutes activated.
Bit better than having your independent, high level investigation then going for what I suspect your solution would be - plane hi-jack, launch the interceptors and shoot the mother-f**ker down. The flying public at large and the civilian airlines and insurance companies would just have an absolute field day with that one - no bugger would ever climb on an aircraft again.
With regard to them (i.e. the Bush Administration) engaging, "... in truly manipulative, cynical, and evil exploitation of those events by doing things like scheduling the Republican National Convention for the 2004 election year in NYC for the express purpose of getting political mileage out of it?"
I assume that both the Republican and Democractic Parties are free to select where they hold their repective conventions? I also assume that New York City has hosted such events in times past? DG, ould-son, are you going to be the one to tell the mayor of New York that he must remove his city from the list of major cities eligable to host political conventions. I'd rather you do it than me, because I get this distinct feeling that if either of us do it, that nice man would quietly draw us aside and whisper in our ear, "F**k-off, do you think I'm crazy!!!"
As stated above I am sure NYC has hosted major political conventions, the sooner it does so again, irrespective of which party convention, the better. No better, or braver, signal of that city's resilience could be flashed across the world to those who tried to rip the heart out of the place. Sorry DG, that, of course, is just another way of looking at it, but that would not form part and parcel of your thinking.