The father of a man killed when Flight 93 crashed in Western Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001, wants his son's name withheld from a memorial to the victims because of renewed concerns that its design is rife with Islamic symbolism.
Tom Burnett Sr., of Northfield, Minn., served on a jury that picked the winning design, originally named "Crescent of Embrace," and said the request was "something I'd rather not do, but I can't get anyone to listen."
Burnett's son, Thomas E. Burnett Jr., 38, died along with 39 other passengers and crew members when Flight 93 was hijacked and crashed into a field near Shanksville while flying to San Francisco from Newark, N.J. An investigation concluded the hijackers crashed when passengers rushed the cockpit and tried to regain control of the aircraft, which is believed to have been headed for Washington, D.C.
Nearly two years ago, designer Paul Murdoch changed the memorial's planned shape to a nearly full circle in response to critics who said the original crescent shape honored the Muslim extremists who carried out the attacks. The crescent is a Muslim symbol.
Burnett said many of his concerns were based on the theories of a conservative blogger, Alec Rawls of Palo Alto, Calif., who has also written a book on the memorial's design, "Crescent of Betrayal."
Last month, Rawls voiced his concerns at a meeting of a task force assigned to oversee construction of the memorial. He also set up an outdoor display to illustrate his argument that the planned memorial faces toward Mecca, Islam's holiest city.
Among other things, Rawls contends a planned 93-foot tower with wind chimes acts as an Islamic sundial, and that the design includes 44 glass blocks representing the 40 passengers and crew members and the four hijackers.
Murdoch, the designer, said there is no glass block in the design, but 40 inscribed marble panels with the names of passengers and crew members at the gateway to the crash site. Then, he said, there is an opening in the wall and three additional panels that would include the date Sept. 11, 2001.
Murdoch accused Rawls of exploiting the feelings of family members of the victims.
In an e-mail to The Associated Press, Rawls called Murdoch "an artful deceiver."
Joanne Hanley, superintendent of the Flight 93 National Memorial, said, Rawls "bases all of his conclusions on faulty assumptions."
Task force members have noted that the new design has been approved by all the necessary parties, most importantly the family members who lost their loved ones on the flight.
Burnett said all he is looking for is a "thorough, honest investigation" of the design and the elements discussed by Rawls.
