Who dares insult our honored dead?

Why, lamebrains more interested in promoting their sick political agendas instead of winning this war, that's who!

Arizona Daily Star: 9/11 memorial's wording to be reviewed

PHOENIX — A state commission that authorized placement of the Arizona 9/11 Memorial in Wesley Bolin Plaza will review controversial laser-cut inscriptions "and see if some of them could be removed," the panel's chairman said Wednesday.

Former state Sen. Tom Smith, chairman of the Legislative Governmental Mall Commission, also said the commission hadn't made it a practice to review the wording of any memorials. "We sure as heck will do it in the future," he told The Associated Press in an interview.

It is easy to believe some people would deface such a monument with AmericaLast nonsense. It is difficult to believe nobody proofread it first.

Also Wednesday, Gov. Janet Napolitano said she didn't pre-approve the wording criticized by Republican gubernatorial nominee Len Munsil and others as containing "blame America" messages and lacking enough sentiments related to faith, unity and patriotism.

The memorial includes quotations like, "You don't win battles of terrorism with more battles" and highlights chronological events such as "Congress questions why CIA & FBI didn't prevent attacks" and "Erroneous U.S. airstrike kills 46 Uruzgan (Afghanistan) civilians."

Among the other inscriptions: "FBI agent issued July 2001 warning in 'Phoenix Memo,' " "Steve of Scottsdale wrote songs for brother, Robby" and "Violent acts leading U.S. to war, 05-07-1915, 12-07-41, 08-04-64 & 09-11-01."

Smith's commission in February heard a presentation from the governor's Sept. 11 Memorial Commission on its plans for the memorial and authorized its placement near the State Capitol.

Smith said he plans to personally review all the inscriptions and have the mall commission meet, likely in October, "to review the statements that have been engraved in the 9/11 memorial and see if some of them could be removed."

However, he said, "I can't do anything until I get all the facts."

Smith, a Phoenix Republican who served in the Legislature from 1991 through 2002, said he didn't know who or what would pay for altering the privately funded memorial but that he believes the mall commission has the authority to revisit its authorization.

"The Capitol Mall Commission is responsible for the placement of the memorials that go into Wesley Bolin Plaza. Therefore I think we have not only the responsibility but we have the authority to make any changes if something's happened that's inappropriate."

According to a recording of the mall commission's Feb. 17 meeting, member Shelly Cohn said the memorial would be "a beautiful tribute to 9/11" and a site for educational activities.

Matt Salenger, an artist who worked on the project, said its creators wanted the inscriptions to "capture the really wide range of reaction, sentiments and facts and events that all occurred around the events of 9/11, 2001."

Salenger told the mall commission that the inscriptions would include events from Sept. 11, 2001, and years following. "In between that we have an array of all kinds of sentiments, reactions and Arizona relief efforts that went into helping out after 9/11," he said.

Mall commission members asked a handful of questions, including whether there would be any representation of 9/11 victims.

Salenger replied that the name of the only Arizona resident killed in the attacks, Tempe businessman Gary Bird, would be included but that there also would be references to other Arizonans who responded to the attacks.

He earlier said the number of cuts to make the inscriptions in the steel canopy would equal the nearly 3,000 victims of the attacks at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and the Flight 93 crash at Sharpsville, Pa.

Uh...that's Shanksville. Sharpsville is farther north. How quickly we forget...

Smith said Wednesday it never occurred to him during the February meeting to check details of the inscriptions' wording. "We never thought anything would be inappropriate," he said. "It didn't sound like there would be anything controversial."