NEW YORK - A museum dedicated to the September 11 attacks will display written quotations drawn from "martyrdom" videos made by the hijackers, along with witness testimonials that will be screened to prevent sympathizers from praising the perpetrators, museum officials said.
Previous attempts to put into context the motivation of the men who used hijacked passenger planes to attack the United States on September 11, 2001, have been met with emotional public opposition, with politicians canceling plans for an "International Freedom Center" in 2005.
But the president of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum said photographs of the 19 hijackers would be displayed along with the quotes as part of the "witness testimony" in the museum.
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The memorial and museum are planned for the World Trade Center site undergoing reconstruction in lower Manhattan. The underground museum should open by 2013.
Finding museum's proper context
Museum president Joe Daniels told reporters the exhibit would present the facts, focusing on "what happened on that day, why it happened, what does it mean to live in a 9/11 world."
"Let the perpetrators speak for themselves," Daniels said.
The museum has possession of videotapes the hijackers made in preparation for the suicide attacks and Reuters previously reported that visitors could play back the tapes, citing Daniels.
"That's a powerful and important thing that visitors to this museum need to hear — bearing witness to the actual testimonials of those who committed the atrocities," Daniels told a news conference Thursday.
However, Daniels later told Reuters by telephone that the exhibit would be limited to photos and written text from the martyrdom tapes.
...'eff martydom.
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