Open Letter to Norm Mineta Regarding 9/11

As you know, there are some unresolved questions about your testimony to the 9/11 Commission. I would like to know your current interpretation of the conversation regarding "Do the orders still stand?"

At that time, the logical interpretation would have been that this was a shoot-down order. However, we now know details that force us to question this interpretation:

The "Project for a New American Century," a neoconservative think-tank whose members included Dick Cheney, pushed for military dominance in the Mideast and wrote in 2000 that "... the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event — like a new Pearl Harbor."
On June 1, 2001, the Joint Chiefs of Staff issued instruction CJCSI 3610.01A, which changed long-standing US policy to require that, in the event of a hijacking, requests for DOD assistance must be forwarded to the Secretary of Defense for approval.
On August 6, 2001, President Bush received a briefing entitled "Bin Laden determined to strike in US."
0n September 11, 2001, the FAA should have followed Standard Intercept Procedures within 3 and a half minutes after losing voice contact with AA Flight 11. Almost two hours elapsed between that loss of contact until Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania. During this time, the USAF did not intercept a single one of the hijacked airlines. This is almost inconceivable unless there was a stand-down order.
By sheer coincidence (?), the Air Force was running multiple war games on 9/11, under Cheney's management, including drills of jets as weapons and hijacking simulations that placed "false blips" on FAA radar screens. Afterwards, the White House claimed it had no idea aircraft might be used as weapons.
In 2003, the 9/11 Commission accused the FAA and NORAD of withholding documents about the hijackings.

Did Cheney see the attacks coming and feel they would serve as the "new Pearl Harbor" to further neocon goals in the Mideast? At the time, I would have found this interpretation unthinkable, but now I have to wonder whether Cheney may have allowed the attacks to happen. Note that over one-third of Americans, and a majority of young Americans, think it's likely that federal officials either participated in the attacks or took no action to stop them because they wanted the US to go to war in the Middle East.

I suspect that "Do the orders still stand?" must have referred to a stand-down order, not a shoot-down order. I would like to know your interpretation. Also, who was the young aide that Cheney barked at? Has he ever been subpoenaed to testify about this?

I know you were a member of the Administration, but I appeal to your sense of patriotism. I believe that if the truth were to come out, America could begin recovering its democracy from those who have attempted to hijack it.