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Thursday, September 11, 2008

9/11: Seven Years Later on the Landscape

On September 11, 2001 terrorists flew two planes in the World Trade Center and another into the Pentagon. Passengers managed to force the fourth plane crash into a farm field in Pennsylvania. The attacks plunged the world into war with battles currently being fought in Somalia, Algeria, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Pakistan, and elsewhere.

Seven years after the attacks memorials are being formed at the crash sites. Most sites are sanctified while one while the bloodiest site will be partly rectified.

The Pentagon

The Pentagon Memorial has received much press because it will be open to the public today. The memorial features benches dedicated to each victim to the Virginia attack. The benches in turn form a courtyard where people can come and contemplate the attacks or whatever else is on their mind.

The memorial is making headaches for Pentagon security. Previously the Pentagon reservation was off limits but now there will be a corridor for people to travel via subway or car to see the memorial.

Previous memorials at the Pentagon include a chapel which was viewable to the public only by arranging a tour well in advance.

Flight 93's Field

The Pennsylvania farm field where Flight 93 crashed was quickly turned into a memorial by private mourners. A permanent memorial is being created. Its design was at first accused of being Islamic by those worried about its crescent shape and the fact that the terrorists who were killed in the failed attack would be equated to the victims by having their own stand. The memorial is being altered to address the concerns.

Ground Zero

New York City has a unique approach for the World Trade Center site. The National September 11 Memorial and Museum will share Ground Zero with the Freedom Tower. The Freedom Tower will be a commercial building designed to continue the work that the World Trade Center housed. However, the site currently serves as a monument to government inefficiency as bureaucratic red tape has slowed construction.

1 comment:

Goethe Girl said...

The Flight 93 private memorial was very touching, especially the simple bronze tablet. It is a scandal that there is not yet a memorial at Ground Zero or, indeed, that the entire WTC has not yet been rebuilt. Michael Bloomberg might be a presidential candidate today if he had had the guts to cut through all the red tape that stymies commercial and non-commercial projects in New York.