I certainly understand why Lucas wants it in the picture (looking at it from a saga stand point).
But I've heard good arguements as to why it shouldn't be there (redundant, screws up falcons introduction)
I've also wondered if Lucas hadn't made a special edition until, let's say, next year, would he have included this scene in the film? or would he have just put it in the deleted scenes section?
Back when the special editions hit theaters, we didn't really have any kind of media to show off deleted scenes-...heck, deleted scenes weren't wildly known about by the general audience...
Just thinkin' out loud...