To Some, WTC Museum Just as Controversial as Mosque

It's too soon for some families to think about memorial
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 20, 2010 10:07 AM CDT
To Some, WTC Museum Just as Controversial as Mosque
This artist's rendering provided by the National September 11 Memorial & Museum shows the museum's proposed entrance pavilion at dusk.   (AP Photo/National September 11 Memorial & Museum, Squared Design Lab)

The Ground Zero mosque is getting all the attention, but it’s far from the only controversial building with a planned location near the World Trade Center site. Victims’ families are being asked to donate photos and mementos to the 9/11 museum being built underground in the Trade Center's foundation pit and scheduled to open in two years—and while many are complying, some denounce the museum as bringing too much attention to the terrorists. Others aren’t happy that unidentified remains will be kept in a "memorial wall" there.

Museum officials say only 2% of the space will be devoted to the terrorists, and insist that explaining their role will help debunk conspiracy theories. Experts on memorials say it may be too soon to build a museum without conflict, but that hasn’t stopped some families from donating items: USA Today has poignant stories of a few, like the pocketbook one sister always carried, and a cell phone bill showing the last time a wife spoke to her husband.
(More Ground Zero stories.)

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