I see what you're saying hairy_hen from but none of those omissions you've mentioned i've ever noticed and i've gone through these films so many times regrading/editing them. Something only becomes an issue to me if i'm able to notice it while watching the film in motion and i've never noticed those omissions you've pointed out.
In this case though I believe that they have improved on the scene in terms of visual continuety so whether it was by choice or omission/forgetfulness/incompetence isn't important to me, though I choose to give Lucasfilm the benefit of the doubt here and assume it was on purpose because there are many other changes that they clearly did on purpose that I consider definate improvements.
I am of the belief that the redone versions of numerous scenes in the OT not only do justice to the original work but also clearly surpass it, like when they enter mos eisley on the speeder in the SE (with the droid and jawa antics edited out of course like I have done with this Star Wars semi-specialised release) and of course the battle of yavin at the end of Star Wars. Both look much much better in the SE than their original theatrical counterparts IMHO. Both scenes no longer look dated and fit in better with the effects work of ESB and ROTJ, which is the most important thing to me, maintaining that visual continuety across the trilogy.
Then there are of course the additions that I feel improve the film like the scene with Biggs before the final battle, which adds a lot more pathos to when he dies during the trench run, making for a much more powerful finale IMHO.
I never watched Star Wars in the cinema when it first came out so I don't have that nostalgia towards the original version that many of you do. Of course I believe that as a fundamental turning point in cinema history the original theatrical versions of the OT should be preserved in as high a quality as possible and made available to everyone on blu-ray, much like Ridley Scott did with Blade Runner and all the different cuts available on the 5 disc blu-ray set.
Many of the original shots of the x-wings moving around during the battle of yavin, which of course were revolutionary in 1977, really do look poor to me now, so much so that I would personally never choose to watch a totally despecialised Star Wars unless there was no other versions with updated special effects available.