The architect of the memorial to a plane downed in western Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001, said Wednesday he would work to satisfy critics who complained that it honors terrorists with its crescent-shaped design.
Designer Paul Murdoch said he is “somewhat optimistic” that the spirit of the design could be maintained.
“It’s a disappointment there is a misinterpretation and a simplistic distortion of this, but if that is a public concern, then that is something we will look to resolve in a way that keeps the essential qualities,” Murdoch, 48, of Los Angeles, said in a telephone interview.
…Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., sent a letter Tuesday to National Park Service Director Fran Mainella saying many have questioned the shape “because of the crescent’s prominent use as a symbol in Islam – and the fact that the hijackers were radical Islamists.”
Will Adams, spokesman for Tancredo, said Wednesday that Tancredo would be happy with the changes only if the crescent shape is removed.
Murdoch said he’s not sure exactly what changes he would make.
This despite the Adopt A Terrorist group CAIRs objections:
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today dismissed Rep. Tom Tancredo’s (R-CO) comments on the design of a memorial to those aboard a plane that crashed in Pennsylvania on 9/11 as a cynical political ploy designed to gain national attention.
CAIR also called on state and national leaders of the Republican Party, including President Bush, to repudiate Tancredo’s Islamophobic stance on the memorial issue.
In a letter sent to the National Park Service, Tancredo opposed the design’s shape “because of the crescent’s prominent use as a symbol in Islam.” Extremist and anti-Muslim Internet bloggers have associated the design’s semi- circular shape with Islam, despite the fact that the designer, the park service and relatives of crash victims say the shape is a circle broken by the flight pattern of Flight 93 when it crashed near Shanksville, Pa. (The crescent itself has no religious significance in Islam, but is commonly associated with that faith.)
“Representative Tancredo once again demonstrates his anti-Muslim bias and his thirst for publicity,” said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad. “He apparently believes he can only gain attention on the national political stage by fabricating a false controversy based on bizarre Internet conspiracy theories.”
Awad added that CAIR is only challenging Tancredo’s implicit linkage between the faith of Islam and terrorism, and will respect whatever the victims’ families believe is an appropriate design for the memorial.
My message to CAIR….go screw yourself. I don’t see a buttload of Christians strapping bomb’s to themselves and killing innocent people. Of course Islam, radical Islam, is connected to terrorism, to say otherwise is just plain bullshit.
Either way it looks like there will be some changes thanks to the blogosphere and Rep. Tancredo. Good job all.
Check out Michelle Malkin, A Blog For All, & Vince Aut Moire for more.
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