FREEDOM CENTER FAKEOUT
NEW YORK POST
opinion/editorial
July 15, 2005
Good news: Officials now see that Gov. Pataki's promise to censor museums at Ground Zero won't work.
Bad news: Those same officials (and maybe Pataki himself) seem to want to do it the gov's way, anyway.
The Pataki-controlled Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which oversees reconstruction at Ground Zero, yesterday announced it's seeking alternate sites for the controversial museums.
Could it be that Pataki finally realizes that the likelihood of politicized museums at Ground Zero (i.e., the International Freedom Center and the Drawing Center) is scaring away big donations — as LMDC Chairman John Whitehead has been complaining about?
If so, the governor would do well to get Whitehead in sync with the new plan.
Or maybe it's not a plan at all — but rather a scheme to dupe those who object to politics at the 9/11 memorial.
For Whitehead immediately discounted the plan, saying "it's not likely" another site will be found.
This means either Pataki's folks are dissembling again (imagine that), or that Whitehead, arrogant as always, is thumbing his nose at the governor.
Pataki needs to clear this up.
More than a few New Yorkers were mortified by the original LMDC plan, which would have allowed the IFC and Drawing Center to become forums for America-bashing — at the very site where the nation suffered its worst attack — by America-haters.
Sure, Pataki attempted to quiet critics by saying he'll restrict what the museums can say, show and do.
As if he had the power to do so.
Officials at the Drawing Center, for example, insist they won't "change their mission" to suit Pataki — no matter how inappropriate their "drawings" are for Ground Zero.
And good for them. Why should they?
Sure, IFC bosses now say they'll exercise restraint. But it's hard to believe a facility headed by Tom Bernstein, whose group, Human Rights First, is suing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld personally for imagined Gitmo offenses.
Besides, Bernstein & Co. claim to be taking guidance from the new-agey think-tank Aspen Institute — never mind that its board of trustees includes the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar. (Maybe Bernstein thinks Bandar has some special insight on 9/11, since 15 of the hijackers came from his country.)
The IFC and the Drawing Center may or may not have something to add to the post-9/11 debate.
But not at Ground Zero.
Pataki and Whitehead (whoever is in charge today) need to move them offsite — once and for all.
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