Originally Posted by
sevenstrokeroll
what do you do? let thousands die or just hundreds? there really isn't another choice in the scenario you are thinking about.
Another act of psychological war/disinformation - for instance.
I can imagine the following possibility: after the "successful" shooting down some foreign TV broadcasts the terrorists' talk (recorder prior to the hijack): "We will hijack the plane. We want to exchange the passengers with the Guantanamo prisoners", ended with an obvious propaganda remark: "America killed its own citizens".
Next time they hijack the plane, a USAF guy in charge will have - supposedly - a much tougher decision to make...