Flight 93 Memorial--UPDATE

Last week, we brought you an ACTION ALERT regarding the planned Flight 93 Memorial and its blatant appeasement to the people who killed over 3,000 people September 11, 2001. What's the controversy? The memorial is planned as an islamic crescent of embrace, with the main feature facing toward Mecca. After sending out the emails to the appropriate people, we received the following responses:

From JoAnne Hanley (Joanne_Hanley@nps.gov) AND David Barna (David_Barna@nps.gov) (They sent IDENTICAL letters to those writing):

Thank you for sharing your concerns with me about the design of the
Flight 93 National Memorial.  You can be assured that the National Park
Service (NPS) is committed to a national memorial that conveys the full honor
due to the heroes of Flight 93, building the memorial, and continuing to
commemorate those heroes who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.

This response has two parts. The first part describes the process used
to select the memorial design, the people and groups involved in the
decision-making, and the steps the National Park Service took when concerns
were first raised about the design. The second part is an attachment, a
letter sent on November 9, 2007 to Congressman Tancredo from the Families
of Flight 93. The group seeks to honor their loved ones--the people  lost
on the flight--and their letter describes their pain and the view that
blogger Alec Rawls presents "preposterous opinions that the designer and
design are Muslim or Islamist conspirators who seek to memorialize
murderers.  Nothing could be more offensive to the Families whose loved
ones died so that folks like Mr. Rawls can be free to expel such hurtful
and unsubstantiated accusations."


The National Park Service is aware of concerns about the memorial design
and took steps last year to investigate the issue. In doing so, the NPS
consulted with university and religious scholars, all of whom concluded
that the memorial design does not imply or depict religious iconography. In
light of those findings, the National Park Service and all three of its
partner organizations continue to support the final design for the Flight
93 memorial.


It may be helpful to understand the partners and the design selection
process. Four organizations partnered to organize and implement the process
for choosing a memorial design. The Families of Flight 93 is a nonprofit
organization of family members of the passengers and crew who died on the
flight. The Flight 93 Advisory Commission was created by Congress to
prepare a report containing recommendations for the planning, design,
construction, and long-term management of a permanent memorial at the crash
site. The Flight 93 Memorial Task Force serves as the Commission's
operational arm and includes Flight 93 family members, community members,
first responders, educators, and other local, regional, and national
stakeholders. The National Park Service is the federal agency charged with
administering Flight 93 National Memorial.


These four partner organizations agreed that an open design competition
would be the most inclusive, transparent, and democratic way to explore a
range of designs for the memorial. The competition was open to design
professionals, as well as to the public, and was conducted in two stages
with two separate juries. The stage I jury analyzed approximately 1,000
submissions and forwarded five finalist designs to the stage II jury. The
five finalist designs were exhibited for public comment in Somerset,
Pennsylvania, and on the project website. The stage II jury, which was
composed of noted design professionals, Flight 93 family members, and
community leaders, reviewed the public comments and evaluated the designs
against the memorial's mission statement. By a majority, the stage II jury
voted in favor of Mr. Murdoch's design and then, to reinforce their support
of the design, took a second, unanimous vote to support the design created
by Mr. Murdoch.


After the winning design was announced, the NPS received some inquiries
from the public about what they perceived as Islamic symbolism in the
memorial design. While the architect, Mr. Murdoch, had not intended any
such symbolism in the design, he nonetheless refined aspects of the design
in response to the perceptions.


The most prominent refinement was in the treatment of the naturally
occurring bowl-shaped landscape feature. The design now surrounds that area
with a circle of trees which is broken in two places--the location which
marks the flight path as it breaks the circular continuity of the bowl
edge, and the Sacred Ground where the crash occurred. The locations of the
two breaks in the circle are based on the flight path and crash site of
Flight 93.


Letter from the Families of Flight 93 to Congressman Tancredo (11-09-07):
(See attached file: FLNI Families of Fl 93 Ltr to Congressman Tancredo
11-09-07.doc)


Additional information can be found on the park web site: www.nps.gov/flni.
I thank you for your interest in the project.


Joanne M. Hanley, General Superintendent
National Parks of Western Pennsylvania
Allegheny Portage RR NHS, Flight 93 National Memorial, Fort Necessity
National Battlefield, Friendship Hill NHS, Johnstown Flood National
Memorial
109 West Main Street, Somerset, PA 15501
office:  814.443.4557
fax: 814.443.2180


David Barna
Director of Public Affairs
National Park Service
Washington, DC

Here is the letter she references to Congressman Tancredo:

November 9, 2007

The Honorable Tom Tancredo
U.S. House of Representatives
1131 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515 Dear Congressman Tancredo:

It is with deep regret that the Families of Flight 93 recently learned of your letter to NPS Director Mary Bomar that has been posted on several websites. Especially unfortunate was to see your unquestioned support of the conspiracy theorist, Alec Rawls. Mr. Rawls continues to disseminate misinformation, twist facts, and incite emotional furor over the Flight 93 Memorial design based on supposed patriotic grounds. Mr. Rawls has perpetrated a complete fabrication that the memorial design represents an Islamic crescent, and he has distorted drawings and orientation of the memorial to suit his most unpatriotic and self-serving purposes.

Former NPS Director Mainella reported to you in October 2005 that changes to the design would be made. Indeed, the perceived crescent shape was shortly thereafter extended more completely into a circle to alleviate any further misinterpretation of the site plan graphic. The circle, a symbol of unity, is symbolically broken in two places – where the flight path of the plane entered the “bowl” topography, and at the crash site itself. The entire design is referred to as “The Flight 93 National Memorial.” Unfortunately, Mr. Rawls refuses to acknowledge these design alterations have been made. Instead, undaunted by the rational efforts of others to discuss these points with Mr. Rawls, he continues to focus his vehemence in various public media on the original crescent shape and to expound his equally preposterous opinions that the designer and design are Muslim or Islamist conspirators who seek to memorialize murderers. Nothing could be more offensive to the Families whose loved ones died so that folks like Mr. Rawls can be free to expel such hurtful and unsubstantiated accusations.

The Families of Flight 93 overwhelmingly support the design and the design process, and reaffirmed that support by a unanimous vote of the Board of Directors as recently as two months ago. Oddly, when Mr. Gordon Felt, Treasurer, Families of Flight 93 last spoke to you in October 2005, you had indicated that you would support the design as long as the Families were satisfied. We are so satisfied, and have repeatedly and steadfastly said so, and so we are puzzled by your new found trust of a self-serving conspiracy blogger who does not represent the opinions or interest of the Families in any way. Indeed, quite the opposite, as Mr. Rawls, in our opinion, undermines the integrity and honor of our loved ones who died on Flight 93. We are also disappointed that neither you, nor your staff, have sought to establish what our position is with regard to this matter. The previous trust we placed in your word to one of our officers is now in doubt, as we have not been afforded the opportunity to learn of your changed position except through the blog Mr. Rawls’ offers.

We do, however, continue to value your opinion, as we do for all regardless of whether they disagree with our support of the Memorial, or not. We also want to have your support, and so we extend to you our open-ended offer to have you visit the site at your earliest opportunity, talk with Families’ representatives while there, and learn of how this elegant, but simple, design fits the terrain and meets the stated design competition expectations, as well as those of the Families and our partners..

Additionally, enclosed for your use and further information is a “White Paper” prepared by the project partners that documents the tremendously open and inclusive process by which the design was selected, the background of Alec Rawls’ interference, the many opportunities and courtesies given to Mr. Rawls by the project partners to address his concerns, and his unwelcome overtures and veiled threats to the Families and the project, as well as a chart that counters Mr. Rawls’ claims with the hard facts. Also enclosed is a letter sent by Flight 93 Advisory Commission Chairman John J. Reynolds to Mr. Rawls, requesting that he stop his persistent harassment, intimidation, and slander of the project partners.

We hope you find these documents useful, and we thank you in advance for your continued support of the Families of Flight 93 organization in our quest to build this memorial and honor the actions and the memories of our lost loved ones.

Sincerely yours,
FAMILIES OF FLIGHT 93

Ed Root, President
Patrick White, Vice-President
Gordon Felt, Treasurer
Carole O’Hare, Secretary
Debby Borza, Director
Beverly Burnett, Director
Christine Fraser, Director
Esther Heyman, Director
Christine Homer, Director
Elizabeth Kemmerer, Director
Catherine Miller, Director
Ken Nacke, Director
Hamilton Peterson, Director
Allison Vadhan, Director

Now, I don't know about you, nor do I know if you were consulted about this design. Everybody I know--those whom I informed of this and brought this to their attention--were frankly OUTRAGED at the religious iconography they blatantly deny. The only change made by the designer was to add a bunch of trees--the placement of the trees is the star area.

Do we really want our murdered men and women honored with a memorial honoring their murderers? I don't think so. I certainly don't. To continue to push this design is just like lighting the Empire State Building up in green to honor Eid--to honor the islamic murderers and appease them at the end of the month of ramadan.

The original article, complete with contact links is here. Let your voices be heard. It's time to say enough is enough--our tax dollars are being used to appease these monsters with special footbaths, prayer rooms and cafeterias at our federally funded colleges; we have taxi drivers in Minnesota refusing to accomodate Americans because of THEIR religion--and it's okay; Minnesota's congressman Keith Ellison works hand in hand with the terrorist front group CAIR and has made statements he will do all he can to force islam on America; our children are being indoctrinated into the religion of hate in school; Christmas is spat upon but there's no end to appeasing islamics. Separation of church and state should go for ALL faiths, not just Judeo Christian. I refuse to allow my children to be taught and indoctrinated into the islamic hate.

And this memorial? It's not a memorial to the men and women murdered on Flight 93--it's a memorial to the murderers of those men and women, a memorial to the ones who murdered Americans without regard to age, gender or reason--not to the Americans who saved the Pentagon by taking the plane down when they realized what was happening.

And these planners think we're completely blind and stupid, that we can't see the crescent of embrace in the design, even to the color.

Are you going to let them continue to do this? Are you going to sit idly by while these planners force the religious iconography glorifying the murderers of Flight 93 down your throats? Are you going to continue to allow this political correctness garbage continue to infect this country?

Why are Barna and Hanley stubbornly set upon honoring the murderers rather than the murdered American heroes? That's the real question--and I say follow the money.

Let your voice be heard. Follow the links and email your letters. Contacts are here.