Petition text, with graphical documentation of the four cited Islamic and terrorist memorializing features (go here to sign)

 

Call for Congressional investigation of Islamic symbolism in the Flight 93 memorial

Many features of the chosen Flight 93 Memorial design are intolerable:

1. THE GIANT CRESCENT. The centerpiece of the original “Crescent of Embrace” design was a giant red Islamic shaped crescent. Every particle of this original crescent design remains completely intact in the so-called redesign, which only added a few irrelevant trees. The giant crescent is still there.

2. IT POINTS TO MECCA. The giant crescent points to Mecca. A crescent that Muslims face into to face Mecca is called a "mihrab," and is the central feature around which every mosque is built. The Flight 93 Memorial is on track to become the world's largest mosque.

3. THE ISLAMIC SUNDIAL. The minaret-like Tower of Voices is a year-round accurate Islamic prayer-time sundial (one of many typical mosque features that are realized in the crescent design, all on the same epic scale as the half mile wide central crescent).

4. THE 44 BLOCKS. There are 44 glass blocks on the flight path, equaling the number of passengers, crew, AND terrorists.

Intentional or not, these features are entirely unacceptable. This travesty must stop and investigations must begin.

1) We the undersigned call on our state and federal legislators to undertake their own thorough and independent investigations of the Flight 93 Memorial design. The truth must come out.
2) We ask that the crescent design be scraped entirely and that it be replaced with a new design that is not tainted by Islamic or terrorist memorializing symbolism.
3) We demand a fitting and proper memorial that HONORS the brave men and women of Flight 93.

 

Short explanations of the four cited features, with graphical documentation

1. THE GIANT CRESCENT

The original Crescent of Embrace design was a giant Islamic shaped crescent with the crash site placed between the crescent tips, in the position of the star on an Islamic crescent and star flag:

Crescent and flag22%
The redesign was supposed to eliminate these Islamic symbol shapes, but as Congressman Tom Tancredo wrote to the Park Service in November 2007, these features remain completely intact in the so-called redesign, which only disguised the crescent with a few additional trees. Architect Paul Murdoch’s refusal to eliminate the Islamic symbol shapes suggests intent, but intentional or not, these symbol shapes are unacceptable. Congressman Tancredo is now calling for the crescent design to be scrapped in its entirety, and we join in that request.


2. IT POINTS TO MECCA

Several credible analysts have found that a person facing directly into the giant crescent (still present in the redesign) will be facing almost exactly at Mecca:

60%SizeMeccaOrientationGraphic
The green “qibla” circle in the graphic above is from the prayer-direction calculator at Islam.com. It shows the direction to Mecca from Somerset PA (ten miles from the crash site). The red arrow shows that a person standing between the crescent tips and facing into the center of the crescent will be facing almost exactly at Mecca.

This Mecca orientation claim must be authoritatively investigated and answered. If it is true that the crescent points to Mecca, and hence can serve as an Islamic prayer direction indicator (the central feature around which every mosque is built), then whether this construct was intentional or not, it indelibly taints the design.

(If Islam.com is not working, another Mecca-direction calculator is available at QiblaLocator.com.)


3. THE ISLAMIC SUNDIAL

Anyone can see the overt similarity between a traditional Islamic sundial (left-hand image) and Tower of Voices part of the Flight 93 Memorial (right-hand image):

SundialComposite65%
When the shadow of the traditional sundial reaches the outer curved vertical in this photo, it will be time for Islamic afternoon prayers. Shadow calculations confirm that, on any day of the year, when the shadow of the 93 foot tall crescent shaped Tower of Voices reaches the inner arc of trees, it will also be time for Islamic afternoon prayers.


4. THE FORTY-FOUR BLOCKS

Tom Burnett Sr. does not want Tom Junior’s name inscribed on one of the 44 translucent blocks that are to be emplaced along the flight path. Forty-four is the number of passengers, crew, AND terrorists:

MemorialWallPlus44thBlock30%

The left side of this graphic shows the Memorial Wall, which follows the path of Flight 93 down to the point of impact. At eye level are 43 glass blocks. Forty are inscribed with the names of the 40 heroes. Three are inscribed with the 9/11 date.

Right-hand image: the 44th glass block sits at the end of the Entry Portal Walkway, where the flight path crosses the upper crescent tip. It marks the spot where, in architect Paul Murdoch’s description, the terrorists broke our humanitarian circle, turning it into a giant (Islamic shaped) crescent. This circle-breaking, crescent-creating feat is memorialized by the inscription: “A field of honor forever.”

The Park Service dismisses the suspicious block count on the grounds that the 44th glass block is much larger than the others. Mr. Burnett is not comforted by the magnificence of the 44th block, and neither are we. This design must be stopped, and investigations must be launched!
 

 

And it's all still there

Architect Paul Murdoch originally described his Crescent of Embrace design as the terrorists breaking a circle, turning it into a giant crescent:

He said he would work to satisfy critics who complained that it honors the terrorists. Its shape is a circle broken by the flight pattern of the plane, which supporters have said follows the topography of the area. (Tribune Democrat, September 14, 2005.)

The Memorial Project describes the redesigned Flight 93 memorial in the exact same terms:

The design now surrounds that area with a circle of trees which is broken in two places - the location which marks the flight path as it breaks the circular continuity of the bowl edge, and the Sacred Ground where the crash occurred. The locations of the two breaks in the circle are based on the flight path and crash site of Flight 93. (Email from Project Superintendent Joanne Hanley, November 14, 2008, responding to mass email campaign by critics of the crescent design.)

Instead of calling it a crescent, they now call it a broken circle, but it was ALWAYS a broken circle. The only change in the Bowl of Embrace redesign is that instead of the broken off part of the circle being removed entirely, a broken off chunk of the circle now floats out beyond the mouth of the crescent:

Crescent-Bowl, site-plan, side-by-side, 600px

Murdoch re-colored his graphics to make it look as if significant changes were made, but the only actual difference is the “broken off” part circle seen on the left side of the redesign image (right). The circle is still broken, and the unbroken part of the circle is still the original giant crescent.

Both thematically and geometrically, the original crescent remains completely intact and unchanged. Not only does the redesign still refer explicitly to the terrorists’ circle-breaking crescent-creating feat, but the circle is broken in the exact same places, creating the same crescent tips, and the same Mecca orientation:

CrescentBisectorThroughSacredGroundPlaza

Face into the crescent to face Mecca. A person standing between the crescent tips and facing into the giant crescent (red arrow) will be facing almost exactly at Mecca (the "qibla" direction) as given by the Mecca-direction calculator at Islam.com. (Green circle shows the "qibla" for Somerset, as calculated by Islam.com.)

The "qibla" direction is to the northeast because Muslims calculate the direction to Mecca by the great-circle, or shortest-distance method (also called the "straight line" direction, curving only in the over-the-horizon direction). Mecca and Somerset are both in the northern hemisphere, so the shortest-distance line takes a shortcut towards the arctic circle.

A crescent that Muslims face into to face Mecca is called a mihrab and is the central feature around which every mosque is built.

All the "redesign" did is plant a broken off arc of trees behind this giant mihrab. You can plant as many trees behind a mosque as you want. It is still a mosque. The Flight 93 memorial is on track to be the world's largest mosque, by a factor of a hundred.

What did we expect? We hosted an open design competition in time of war and literally invited the entire world to enter. Can any one really be surprised that our terror war enemies accepted our invitation?

Much harder to understand is the willful blindness of person after person in position of responsibility, all of whom have been absolutely determined not to even consider the possibility of untoward intent, no matter how high the evidence piles.

The full exposé is in my Crescent of Betrayal book. Updates are being posted on my Error Theory blog. Please come to the Memorial Project meeting next Saturday morning at the Somerset County Courthouse and help us stop this abomination!

 

Animation

Too bad we can't put animated graphics in the newspaper. Here is a animated overlay, showing how little was altered beyond the re-coloring of the graphic (click image for larger version):

Crescent-Bowl, site-plan animation, 300px

 

Many thanks for your help with the petition, and if you want to do more, you can!

 

           

 

Paper petition and flyers

Another thing people can do is help circulate our petition. There is a tab at the top of the online petition for emailing the petition to anyone you might think would be interested (or you can just mail the petition url yourself).

We also have paper petitions that people can print out and circulate. They have information on the back, including the address to mail them to.

Mr. Burnett also encourages anyone who is interested to forward or post his letter to the American people, asking for help in stopping the re-hijacking of Flight 93.

 

 

Proof of betrayal page

Crescent of Betrayal, main page.

Free download of Crescent of Betrayal, the Director's Cut.

Error Theory blog.

Contact: alec@rawls.org.

All content of this website © Alec Rawls 2005-2008