I don't believe this guy for a minute. They will say anything to get in. Once they have the place, they will do as they please. Best thing is to do away with it.
WTC museum not
anti-U.S., boss vows
BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
The chairman of a controversial museum set to rise at Ground Zero vowed yesterday his institution would never "blame America or attack the champions of freedom."
Just 12 days after an angry Gov. Pataki demanded "absolute guarantees" that cultural institutions respect the sanctity of the site - or pack their bags - the International Freedom Center put that pledge in writing yesterday.
"Rest assured that the IFC will never host 'debates' about the 'reasons' for the murder of nearly 3,000 people at the World Trade Center, nor will it be used as a forum for denigrating the country we love," IFC Chairman Tom Bernstein wrote. "We are proud patriots. We will never dishonor America or the heroes of Sept. 11."
Bernstein's guarantee - that programming at the site will be "appropriately celebratory of our nation" - came after a torrent of criticism from 9/11 families that the IFC would focus on acts of U.S. wrongdoing, like slavery and the mistreatment of American Indians. It also followed Daily News disclosures that the other cultural institution planned for the site, the SoHo-based Drawing Center, had showcased art that attacked America's war on terror, ridiculed the victims of terrorism and compared President Bush to terror mastermind Osama Bin Laden.
Although Bernstein addressed the IFC's critics head-on, the Drawing Center has been silent. In his six-page letter to the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., Bernstein revealed plans for the Freedom Center, including:
# The signature exhibit - called "Freedom Walk" - will tell the stories of the innocents lost on 9/11 as an "integral part of the historical march toward freedom."
# A gallery will be devoted to the "international outpouring of sympathy and support for the U.S. and the victims in the wake of Sept. 11."
# Documents of freedom, on loan from the National Archives and elsewhere, would be displayed, including the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
# "The Sphere," Fritz Koenig's iconic sculpture, which graced the World Trade Center Plaza, would be moved from Battery Park to a spot near newly reconstructed Greenwich and Fulton Sts. |
