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Both stories could be true. Note that the CNN story does not say that the passengers' decision caused the plane to crash.

Some interesting paragraphs from yesterday's Washington Post article on the Newark-San Francisco flight:

Leaders of Congress -- including Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.), Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) -- were told at a briefing by the Capitol Police that the hijacked plane might have been bound for the Capitol or Camp David, the presidential retreat in Thurmont, Md., 85 miles southeast of the crash site, according to participants in the meeting.

The participants discussed the possibility of shooting down the aircraft, said Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.)

"The question I heard asked was: 'Who has the authority to order a commercial jetliner shot down by the military?'" Pence said. However, the congressional leaders soon learned that the plane had already crashed.

The North American Aerospace Defense Comman (NORAD) issued a statement denying that United Flight 93 had been shot down by U.S. military aircraft.

On another point, note that the CNN story says the hijackers claimed to have bombs. Could that claim of theirs have been true? Might there have been secondary explosions of such bombs at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon?

Thanks, I had missed that story, aristeides. As to the bombs - I read/saw more than one reporter that various hijackers had little red boxes they claimed were bombs. I tend to think there were just threats designed to keep opassengers and crew that muich more complacent and unlikely to rush the hijackers.

There was a secondary "explosion" that I felt (and was reported on television at the time) about 20 minutes after the Pentagon crash -- but this could have been the Pentagon collapsing, whihc I think is what th elatest news reports claim. It could have also been the fuselage belatedly exploding . . .