  In this paper we study the response in time of N$_2$, O$_2$ and F$_2$ to
laser pulses having a wavelength of 390nm. We find single ionization
suppression in O$_2$ and its absence in F$_2$, in accordance with experimental
results at $\lambda = 800$nm. Within our framework of time-dependent density
functional theory we are able to explain deviations from the predictions of
Intense-Field Many-Body $S$-Matrix Theory (IMST). We confirm the connection of
ionization suppression with destructive interference of outgoing electron waves
from the ionized electron orbital. However, the prediction of ionization
suppression, justified within the IMST approach through the symmetry of the
highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO), is not reliable since it turns out
that, e.g. in the case of F$_2$, the electronic response to the laser pulse is
rather complicated and does not lead to dominant depletion of the HOMO.
Therefore, the symmetry of the HOMO is not sufficient to predict ionization
suppression. However, at least for F$_2$, the symmetry of the dominantly
ionized orbital is consistent with the non-suppression of ionization.
