Tancredo Condemns Use Of Giant Crescent In Flight 93 Memorial
A Colorado congressman says the National Park Service should scrap the planned design for the Flight 93 National Memorial in Somerset County because it includes Islamic symbolism. Rep. Tom Tancredo, a Republican, sent the letter to National Park Service Director Mary A. Bomar. He claims the revised memorial design still includes a crescent -- an internationally recognized Islamic symbol. "I remain committed to ensuring that this memorial is a powerful symbol for the whole nation and a testament to the courage and will of the passengers of the flight -- as I am sure you are," Tancredo wrote to Bomar. "And while I regret having to contact the Park Service again about this issue, I sincerely hope that you will direct the committee to scrap the crescent design entirely in favor of a new design that will not make the memorial a flashpoint for this kind of controversy and criticism." The letter is the second one that Tancredo has written the service regarding the design of the memorial. The site will honor the 40 men and women aboard Flight 93, which was hijacked and crashed near Shanksville, Somerset County, on Sept. 11, 2001.
In September 2005, just days after the design was introduced, Tancredo wrote to then-National Park Service Director Fran Mainella to criticize the memorial site's crescent shape. Tancredo questioned whether the crescent design would make the memorial a tribute to the radical Islamic hijackers -- rather than the passengers and crew who thwarted an attempt to use the plane as a bomb in Washington, D.C. Changes were made to the design, which had been called "Crescent of Embrace," in response to those initial concerns by Tancredo and others. The design changes, unveiled in December 2005, called for a tree-lined walkway that envelopes a roughly circular patch of land at the crash site known as the bowl. The previous design had the trees follow a crescent-shaped path. Two years later, Tancredo now claims that the changes aren't enough. "Unfortunately, it appears that little if any substantive changes to the most troubling aspect of the design -- the crescent shape -- have been made," he wrote. "This deeply concerns me." Tancredo's spokesman, T.Q. Houlton, said the congressman has no further comment. "The letter speaks for itself," Houlton said. Joanne Hanley, memorial superintendent, said the park service won't comment on Tancredo's letter because it has not yet been received. Hanley did reiterate what she has said all along about the design controversy -- that people are seeing things that aren't really there.
"I think the only controversy is the one made by a very small but vocal group of conspiracy theorists," Hanley said. Family members Ed Root, president of Families of Flight 93, and Gordie Felt, who serves on the family board as well as the Flight 93 Federal Advisory Commission, said they would welcome Tancredo to come to the memorial site and speak with family members and Park Service officials. "I think, frankly, he's off-base making this comment and taking this action," said Root, whose cousin, flight attendant Lorraine Bay, died on Flight 93. Felt, who lost his brother Edward on the flight, said he spoke to Tancredo in 2005, when the congressman raised concerns to let him know the family board was behind the design. "To see this again, I'm not sure if he's getting pressure with the politics of the day," Felt said. "I'm not sure of his motives, but I thought this whole design issue was behind us." Felt said that accusations that the family group backs an Islamic design are "distasteful.""My only concern is that any time that someone with any type of credibility raises a concern about the memorial -- valid or not -- that it potentially can be damaging to the memorial process," Felt said.
In September 2005, just days after the design was introduced, Tancredo wrote to then-National Park Service Director Fran Mainella to criticize the memorial site's crescent shape. Tancredo questioned whether the crescent design would make the memorial a tribute to the radical Islamic hijackers -- rather than the passengers and crew who thwarted an attempt to use the plane as a bomb in Washington, D.C. Changes were made to the design, which had been called "Crescent of Embrace," in response to those initial concerns by Tancredo and others. The design changes, unveiled in December 2005, called for a tree-lined walkway that envelopes a roughly circular patch of land at the crash site known as the bowl. The previous design had the trees follow a crescent-shaped path. Two years later, Tancredo now claims that the changes aren't enough. "Unfortunately, it appears that little if any substantive changes to the most troubling aspect of the design -- the crescent shape -- have been made," he wrote. "This deeply concerns me." Tancredo's spokesman, T.Q. Houlton, said the congressman has no further comment. "The letter speaks for itself," Houlton said. Joanne Hanley, memorial superintendent, said the park service won't comment on Tancredo's letter because it has not yet been received. Hanley did reiterate what she has said all along about the design controversy -- that people are seeing things that aren't really there.
"I think the only controversy is the one made by a very small but vocal group of conspiracy theorists," Hanley said. Family members Ed Root, president of Families of Flight 93, and Gordie Felt, who serves on the family board as well as the Flight 93 Federal Advisory Commission, said they would welcome Tancredo to come to the memorial site and speak with family members and Park Service officials. "I think, frankly, he's off-base making this comment and taking this action," said Root, whose cousin, flight attendant Lorraine Bay, died on Flight 93. Felt, who lost his brother Edward on the flight, said he spoke to Tancredo in 2005, when the congressman raised concerns to let him know the family board was behind the design. "To see this again, I'm not sure if he's getting pressure with the politics of the day," Felt said. "I'm not sure of his motives, but I thought this whole design issue was behind us." Felt said that accusations that the family group backs an Islamic design are "distasteful.""My only concern is that any time that someone with any type of credibility raises a concern about the memorial -- valid or not -- that it potentially can be damaging to the memorial process," Felt said.
posted by CRUEL KEV. at Friday, November 09, 2007
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