NEW YORK (CNN) -- A controversial proposal for an International Freedom Center adjacent to the planned memorial at the World Trade Center site has been abandoned.New York Gov. George Pataki on Wednesday announced the change of plans he once championed. "There remains too much opposition, too much controversy over the programming of the IFC and we must move forward with our first priority -- the creation of an inspiring memorial to pay tribute to our lost loved ones and tell their stories to the world," Pataki said in a written statement.
A growing chorus of September 11 victims' family members had objected to proposed exhibits that would cover subjects in American history unrelated to the 2001 terrorists attack. Some also objected to the center occupying an eight-story cultural center in the southwest quadrant of the 16-acre site where the memorial will be centered. "Therefore, the IFC cannot be located on the memorial quadrant," Pataki said.
Pataki said he wanted the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the city-state agency overseeing rebuilding on the site, to explore other locations for the center. But the center immediately issued a statement saying it did not see "a viable alternative place." "We consider our work, therefore, to have been brought to an end," said the center's chief operating officer, Richard Tofel.
| Oh. Darn. Shoot. Drat. Fudge. |
Debra Burlingame, a World Trade Center Memorial Foundation board member whose brother was a pilot on the plane that al Qaeda hijackers crashed into the Pentagon on the same day, helped lead the protests and applauded the decision. "The terrorists who killed our loved ones are the ones who turned it into a cemetery. We want to turn it into a incredible memorial," Burlingame said. "That story will be a story of loss and inspiration. Now it will be undiluted without distraction."
Pataki and freedom center supporters had argued that al Qaeda attacked the United States because of its freedoms of religion and speech, its tradition of democracy and support for human rights. "The celebration of freedom is not inconsistent with the goals of memorializing our nearly 3,000 lost heroes," Pataki said. "The creation of an institution that would show the world our unity and our resolve to preserve freedom in the wake of the horrific attacks is a noble pursuit.
"But freedom should unify us. This center has not," he said.
| Because in the end it was all about the freedom to blame us for our freedom. The rest of the article has the usual reactions. |