Germany's ruling coalition agreed that the power could only be used if a plane had failed to respond to other attempts to halt it. [BBC World News]

First off; well Guh. I mean, if the people on board are willing to die to prevent something like Sept. 11th from happening, then of course you're going to have to allow this as an option.

What whacks me out, is that the article talks about the safeguards required, as if fighter pilots are asking if they can shoot down commercial planes every week.

Aside from the general moral issues involved in shooting down say, a commercial airliner, let's imagine someone standing on the WTC with a stinger.

So you shoot the plane down over the city and it plows, on fire, into a densely packed city neighborhood. It is moving at speed, so it travels for a while, trailing burning wreckage, and starting fires.

In many ways, Sept. 11th was a miracle for how few people died.

The buildings stopped the planes dead.

The buildings collapsed directly downwards rather than falling over.

The buildings stood as long as they did.

Mind you, I wouldn't wanna be the pilot having to decide whether or not to shoot. Which is why you have the chain of command.

9:49:52 AM     Discuss: []