On 9/11, Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Pa, when some of the passengers on the hijacked plane, having heard that the World Trade Center and the Pentagon had been attacked, acted to prevent their plane from being flown by the Muslim hijackers into another building, possibly the Capitol or the White House. Everyone on the plane died.

Their memorial is in the shape of a crescent. The crescent is the symbol of Islam. It is placed so that anyone entering the crescent in the middle of its open arms and proceeding forward is facing Mecca.

Below is a picture of the memorial. Is its shape a mockery of the victims, and America, or is its resemblance to the symbol of Islam a mere coincidence?

Either way, shouldn’t it have been changed once the resemblance was pointed out and reactions of outrage and unhappiness were expressed?

Even if it isn’t intended to be shrine, will its shape and placement not all too easily lend itself to being held and honored as one by Muslims, to the distress of millions of others?

Alec Rawls and Tom Burnett Sr. believe the shape is no error, that it has been designed to be a mihrab pointing to Mecca. A mihrab is a semicircle, usually in the wall of a mosque, that indicates the direction in which Mecca lies –  the qibla in Arabic – which is the way Muslims must face when praying.

Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugs also believes that the memorial is an Islamic shrine.  She writes:

Please read the following plea from the father of Thomas Burnett. Thomas was the ringleader of the small group of courageous men who fought back against the Muslim terrorists on United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, that crashed in the fields in Pennsylvania. He made four now-famous cell phone calls to his wife from the plane, making a quick assessment of the Muslims’ suicidal flight plan, and made a decision to “do something.” He gave his life to ensure that the plane would not reach its intended destination in Washington.

This was the email from Thomas Burnett’s father after I told him in no uncertain terms that I would be honored to post his letter:

Dear Pamela

Thank you for posting my letter on your blogs.

We thank you for speaking out against the planned mosque in New York.

We too need your help; we need to stop the National Park Service building another mosque in Shanksville. PA.

I served on the 2005 2nd jury that was commissioned to select a design honoring the passengers and crew on Flight 93. The public submitted over 1100 designs. The first jury went through those 1100 designs and selected 5 designs that were presented to the 2nd jury.

When I saw Crescent of Embrace, I immediately saw the Islamic symbols. I spoke out against the design and explained my reasons to the other members of the jury. The vote was taken, 9 for the Crescent of Embrace and 6 against that design. That vote was not unanimous.

There were 4 excellent designs left; there was absolutely no reason to select a design that even suggested Islamic symbols.

I knew that the public would agree with me when they saw the Crescent of Embrace design. They did, but our government would not listen or investigate our claims. All of our letters ended up in the same hands, the National Park Service. We can’t give up; we must stop this mosque being built in Shanksville, as well as the one in New York.

Thank you for helping us.

Warmly, Tom Burnett Sr.

And here is Michelle Malkin’s view:

Tons of you are stunned, outraged, and sickened by the new Flight 93 Memorial, the “Crescent of Embrace.” I called the architect responsible for the redesign, Paul Murdoch of Los Angeles, yesterday for comment. He did not return my call, but he did speak with the Johnstown, Pa., Tribune Democrat, as quoted in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

Neither Murdoch nor his supporters see any problem with the red crescent wrapped around the crash site near Shanksville, Pa., where 40 innocent people were murdered at the hands of Islamic terrorists:

“This is not about any religion per se,” Murdoch said in a telephone interview with the Tribune-Democrat in Johnstown. “It’s a spiritual space, and a sacred place, but it’s open to anyone.”

The word “crescent,” he said, was used as a generic architectural term for a curved line.

“Sure, there is an Islamic crescent,” Murdoch said. “Theirs is a lunar crescent. Ours isn’t based on that.” …

[Yet] even the second-stage jury that selected the design recommended changing its name [not the design! – JB] to steer clear of religious overtones. Rather than crescent, the jury suggested using circle or arc of embrace instead.

Michelle Malkin thinks that the plan has the feel of a practical joke, “a very sick one”.

Here it is:

Crescent of Betrayal

(Credit: Zombie)

Pointing to Mecca