A Fools' Victory at Ground Zero

Jordan of Contemplating the Laundry links to this story in the New York Times.

Governor Pataki makes the right decision. He excludes the controversial International Freedom Center from the World Trade Center memorial site:

"The I.F.C. cannot be located on the memorial quadrant," Mr. Pataki said in a statement. That quadrant, at the southwest corner of the trade center site, contains the footprints of the twin towers.

The Freedom Center, picked for the memorial site by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, was envisioned as a living memorial in which the story of Sept. 11, 2001, would be told in the context of the worldwide struggle for freedom through the ages.

Critics said the sacred precinct of the memorial was no place for a lesson in geopolitics or social history, particularly when a separate memorial museum devoted solely to 9/11 was being planned entirely underground, within the trade center foundations.

"There remains too much opposition, too much controversy over the programming of the I.F.C., and we must move forward with our first priority, the creation of an inspiring memorial," the governor said in a statement released at 4:55 p.m.

He said he had instructed the development corporation, which is overseeing the development of the memorial and cultural buildings, to "work with the I.F.C. to explore other locations."

But 42 minutes later, the center said in its own statement that there was no other location to explore, since the memorial quadrant was "the site for which the I.F.C. was created, at the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's request, and as an integral part of Daniel Libeskind's master site plan."

"We do not believe there is a viable alternative place for the I.F.C. at the World Trade Center site," said the statement from the center's executives, Tom A. Bernstein, Peter W. Kunhardt and Richard J. Tofel. "We consider our work, therefore, to have been brought to an end."

Debra Burlingame, who led the opposition to the Freedom Center, beginning with an article in The Wall Street Journal, "The Great Ground Zero Heist," on June 9, congratulated Governor Pataki on his decision. Her brother, Charles F. Burlingame III, was the pilot of the airliner that was crashed into the Pentagon.

"The International Freedom Center was an obstacle not simply for the families, the first responders and all those who were personally affected by the events of Sept. 11," Ms. Burlingame said in a telephone interview, "but for all Americans who will be coming to the World Trade Center memorial to hear the story of 9/11 and that story only.

"And I believe that story will be able to convey all the core values that Governor Pataki so eloquently enunciated," Ms. Burlingame said, adding that 9/11 was a story not only of loss but "an uplifting story of decency triumphing over depravity."

Longtime readers may remember my humble contribution to the struggle against the International Freedom Center. Naturally, I'm happy with the governor's decision. The people of New York City, and the nation as a whole, don't need politically correct pontifications delivered on ground made holy by the blood of the innocent. The World Trade Center memorial site should be just that: a memorial for those that we lost on 9/11. America deserves to remember the heroes and victims of our nations worst terrorist attack. We do not need to be told how much we're a part of the problem. No outrage over policy justified murder. Otherwise, why isn't the Black Hand celebrated for their assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his pregnant wife?

Governor Pataki restored to New Yorkers and Americans the right to have the story of 9/11 told honestly, without the ideological baggage that the International Freedom Center imposed on the site. Some may cynically note that Governor Pataki auditions for national office. I don't share that view in this particular case. Governor Pataki shouldered the burden of guiding New York City through 9/11 with Mayor Guiliani. He has an personal investment in the story that the World Trade Center memorial site tells. I believe he wants the site to honor the memory of those America lost on that terrible day. Today, he made the decision that ensures that. He made the right call.