Prepare to be Outraged

When imaging what the future World Trade Center Memorial will one day look like, one probably envisions an elegant, sobering, emotionally moving tribute to the victims of that terrible day, and to the heroes who gave their lives trying to save them. Perhaps it would include a message of gratitude to the soldiers who, while the wreckage in New York still smoldered, courageously fought half a world away to punish those responsible for the attacks.

But rather than the memorial being about, oh, I don't know, the 9/11 attacks, visitors to the memorial will instead be subjected to such relevant topics as Native American genocide and the history of cross-burnings in the South. The memorial project has been hijacked by the far left, and they are perverting the memorial to sastify their own sick anti-American obsessions. As Debra Burlingame (the sister of one of the pilots killed on 9/11, and a member of the memorial board of directors) revealed yesterday, the memorial may focus more on Abu Ghraib than it does on the firefighters who ran up the stairs when everyone else was running down.

The driving force behind this PC-monstrosity is the International Freedom Center, whose founder, Tom Bernstein, recently filed a lawsuit against Donald Rumsfeld on behalf of the all the poor misunderstood jihadists currently in American custody. If that wasn't outrageous enough, take a look at some other influential figures directly involved with the IFC:

• Michael Posner, executive director at Human Rights First who is leading the worldwide "Stop Torture Now" campaign focused entirely on the U.S. military. He has stated that Mr. Rumsfeld's refusal to resign in the wake of the Abu Ghraib scandal is "irresponsible and dishonorable."

• Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU, who is pushing IFC organizers for exhibits that showcase how civil liberties in this country have been curtailed since September 11.

• George Soros, billionaire founder of Open Society Institute, the nonprofit foundation that helps fund Human Rights First and is an early contributor to the IFC. Mr. Soros has stated that the pictures of Abu Ghraib "hit us the same way as the terrorist attack itself."

• Eric Foner, radical-left history professor at Columbia University who, even as the bodies were being pulled out of a smoldering Ground Zero, wrote, "I'm not sure which is more frightening: the horror that engulfed New York City or the apocalyptic rhetoric emanating daily from the White House." This is the same man who participated in a "teach-in" at Columbia to protest the Iraq war, during which a colleague exhorted students with, "The only true heroes are those who find ways to defeat the U.S. military," and called for "a million Mogadishus." The IFC website has posted Mr. Foner's statement warning that future discussions should not be "overwhelmed" by the IFC's location at the World Trade Center site itself.

The Left's fundamental disdain for America continues. Thirty years ago, they showed this disdain by spitting on returning war veterans; they show it today by desecrating the memories of American heroes and turning our nation's darkest day into yet another occasion for their favorite pastime, America-bashing.