Ground zero

'œAmerica bashers' are hijacking ground zero, said Douglas Feiden in the New York Daily News. The future Sept. 11 memorial complex in lower Manhattan will include a museum called the International Freedom Center, supposedly devoted to celebrating America's 'œleading role in the global fight for freedom.' But the directors of the Freedom Center have fallen under the sway of a leftist group called the International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience, which is advising that overt displays of patriotism would be unseemly. 'œDon't feature America first,' they recommended in a report. 'œThink internationally.' The advisors also warned, 'œMany nonsecular Muslims may be very skeptical about the intent of this museum.' After all, they may feel that their 'œhuman rights have been violated by the U.S.' That doesn't sound like a celebration of freedom, said the Daily News in an editorial. It sounds like 'œpure anti-American hogwash.'

Censorship is also anti-American, said The New York Times in an editorial. For months now, 'œa vocal cadre of families of 9/11 victims' has been demanding that every exhibit at ground zero be devoted strictly to recalling that awful day. But ground zero plans already call for an elaborate, stirring memorial to 9/11 and its victims. The Freedom Center was conceived as a complement to that memorial, with a focus on the men and women 'œwho through the course of history have moved us forward in our march to freedom,' from the framers of the Constitution to Mahatma Gandhi to Martin Luther King Jr. to the Polish Solidarity movement. Unfortunately, New York's Gov. George Pataki has caved to political pressure, and given the Freedom Center until Sept. 23 to come up with a prospectus that won't offend the 9/11 families.

As someone who lost a nephew on 9/11, said Bill Tammeus in The Kansas City Star, may I make a suggestion? When rebuilding is complete, ground zero will be the place where people will try to come to grips with the evils of religious fanaticism and terrorism, and the fact that 3,000 people were erased from the face of the earth in a few horrible moments. That's an overwhelming task, and it would be foolish to add to it a responsibility for explaining slavery, segregation, the Holocaust, or other forms of oppression throughout history. 'œLet museums in Gdansk and Gettysburg and Birmingham and Berlin teach us about Solidarity and Lincoln and civil rights and the Shoah.' But, 'œwhen I go to ground zero, I want to remember my nephew and understand better the fanatics who killed him.'

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