Good grief, I have to disagree with Mark Steyn! And his piece was written long after 9/11. No, Mr. Steyn, the failure on 9/11 was NOT total. By the fourth flight, the system had changed forever. We have the heroes of Flight 93 to thank for that. A flight will never be taken again, at least not without a fight to the finish. The terrorists realize they no longer face rows of sheep but rather rows of tigers. Flight 93 did not hit its target. The system learned.
I don't think Steyn was including the passengers within "the system". The piece is about the government protecting its citizens, not the citizens protecting themselves. Apparently the UK is not taking the idea of protecting its citizens as seriously as is the US.
I think his point is that on 9/11, the US government entirely failed to protect the victims in the WTC and on the planes. That's accurate. His main point, though, is that since 7/7, the UK's government continues in that same style of failure.
Actually, thinking back, Steyn is right. He speaks of flights taking off between 7:30 and 9:00am on 9-11-01. Had there been 30 filghts highjacked during that 90 minute period, perhaps one or two others would have had the Flight 93 passengers' reaction, but most would have followed the then-protocol of doing what the highjackers told them, assuming they would land somewhere and negotiate with officials.
I think the only reason there weren't more flights highjacked that morning is that it would have required more hijackers, thus creating a higher chance of the plot being revealed before it could be achieved. Remember the early tape of bin Laden bragging about his accomplishment and stating that most of the highjackers themselves didn't even know the plot till they were pretty much getting on the plane? Secrecy was their first weapon. Our idiotic policy of not challenging hijackers supported their effort.