"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?"
Well, for starters, they could have been forced or shot down.
It didn't all happen within 5 minutes, Teribus.
"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."
Bullshit.
"I assume that both the Republican and Democractic Parties are free to select where they hold their repective conventions?"
So you aren't the least bit concerned with the exploitation of the victims of 9/11 for partisan political gain, then? Your response speaks volumes about your lack of moral courage, Teribus. Volumes.
Which is why so few here agree with your rantings. You are an amoral hyper-rationalist, who worships at the altar of science, technology, and political expediency. Your clergy are the corporate, military, and bureaucratic marauders, out for what they can get at the expense of the rest of us, not to mention our democratic civil society.
Amoral lightweights like you are a dime a dozen in the post-tech boom era.