Well, the 'shoot down a passenger jet policy' has been here for ages.
Evidently the system that the military has in such cases failed on the 9 11 and
no one can guarantee that it will not fail again, given the same circumstances.
The scenario was as straight forward as they get: comm contact with four jets
was lost. But interestingly, the policy did not fail with Korean Air 007 and
Iran Air 665. Plus,
cowhorse - You are being both mischievous and deliberately ingenuous!