Moments after the Sept. 11 attacks, a U.S. air defense commander considered sending pilots in unarmed Air Force fighter jets on suicide missions to ram any other hijacked planes. No such missions were ordered, nor did the commander, Air Force Col. Robert Marr Jr., ask his superiors in the North American Aerospace Defense Command for authority to issue such orders. "It was a thought that went through his mind," said Marr's spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Kacey Blaney. Marr said yesterday that the idea of ramming any additional hijacked airliners -- beyond the three that hit the World Trade Center and Pentagon and the one that crashed in Pennsylvania -- came up as he and aides huddled in their command center in Rome, N.Y., to consider the unprecedented crisis that was unfolding. At that moment, it was unclear how many hijackings would occur, and Marr knew he had only four armed fighter jets available in his area of responsibility, called the Northeast Air Defense Sector, stretching from Minnesota to Maine to Virginia. "In the heat of the moment, all suggestions were considered, but no decision was made to employ unarmed fighters" as missiles, Marr said in a statement provided by Blaney. The fact that the United States had only a small number of armed fighter jets on air defense duty on Sept. 11 reflects that in the aftermath of the Cold War, aerial attacks were considered a minimal threat. For months after Sept. 11, combat air patrols were flown continually over Washington and New York. Such patrols are now periodic, and fighter jets are on short-notice alert at bases across the country. Marr first disclosed that he had considered this last-ditch tactic in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp., which is preparing to broadcast a documentary on the events of Sept. 11. In his statement, Marr said it was his responsibility to consider even the most extreme measures. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18114-2002Aug30.html Defense of necessity applies to shootdowns,SEE 'Osama at the Hague." Killing civilians by the thousand was good enough for 'give em hell' harry.