At Ground Zero, Room for Mosque but None for 9/11

Political correctness obliterates 9/11: As recently reported, a building damaged in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will be restored as a mosque and inter-faith and multi-cultural center. Yet, the National September 11 Memorial at the World Trade Center foundation, chaired by Mayor Michael Bloomberg of NYC has ruled it inappropriate that the 9/11 WTC memorial acknowledge the attacks.

Therefore, none of the immediately recognizable artifacts such as the damaged Koenig Sphere or any of the twisted steel of the destroyed towers may be restored to the site as part of the memorial.

Iconic artifacts such as the crushed fire trucks and the flyers of the missing will be hidden out of sight in an underground museum. There will be no recognition of the raising of the flag by the three firefighters, honoring the values attacked. While the crescent and star of Islam will rise nearby. Leaving, when this memorial and mosque are complete, the tenets of Islam with a prominent place at ground zero and 9/11 with none.

This should not be interpreted as an anti-Islamic effort. However, why do not the slaughtered innocents of 9/11 receive at least as much attention and respect from the National September 11 Memorial foundation as do the religious beliefs of the terrorists who struck?

Before room for a mosque is found at ground zero, 9/11 must be restored to the site. It is our first moral duty here to faithfully preserve and convey the memory and history of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Visitors to the site must know and understand immediately the meaning, significance and magnitude of the attacks. It is by that we best ensure that those thousands did not die in vain. We, the undersigned demand the return of those authentic artifacts that speak directly to the attacks. We demand that the history be conveyed in a plaza level, prominent museum with easy access and exit. We demand, finally, that ground zero remember and honor first and foremost the memory and meaning of those taken here and honor the enduring values targeted.