1. I understood Saxo Bank's tactics. They were gaining time on ALL of their rivals, independent of Contador's attack. Contador's attack did not hurt or change their goals. Why you don't see that is beyond me.
2. On Stage 16, Saxo shut off the gas after two things happened (1) Jens Voigt accelerated and dropped Frank and (2) heard that Armstrong was bridging up. Once they were unable to maintain a gap, it was no use going full gas with the downhill finish and Stage 17 on the horizon. Lance was dropped on 16 because he couldn't stay with the move. It wasn't because he was sizing anything up. After blowing up Verbier, he realized that he had to ride his tempo (a la Sastre).
3. The attack, if successful, would have put more time into EVERYONE, including Wiggins, Armstrong and the Schleck Brothers. He was going for a grand slam. Didn't need to, but it was his decision. How much time his teammates lose as a result of his attack is irrelevant. He was the MJ, the strongest rider on the team, and that's ALL that mattered in the scheme of things. Not how much time Armstrong lost.
4. In what world would the MJ and strongest rider on a team wait for a dropped teammate?

The goal is to gain time on your rivals, not minimize time gaps to your teammates. Step back and reconsider your comment that AC should have "waited" for LA. As for Kloden, I don't know if he wouldn't have been dropped no matter what. He wasn't doing any work on Contador's behalf (never covered an attack or let Contador ride in his slipstream). He was barely holding AC's wheel. Again, AK's time losses are irrelevant to the team goal.
5. Lance made a mistake in letting Frank go. That's indisputable. It wasn't part of some master plan. It was a mistake. All of the suppositions and conditional statements doesn't change that fact.