Audio: 9/11 hijackers part of historic narrative, not focus of Memorial Museum (Updated)

9/11 Memorial President Joe Daniels in an interview this morning on WOR newstalk radio detailed progress on the memorial and plans for the Sept. 11 opening later this year.  Daniels also spoke to WOR host John Gambling  on reasons for including the Sept. 11 hijackers in the 9/11 Memorial Museum, making it clear that the terrorists' sole purpose would be to provide historical context. 

Here's a portion of the exchange between Daniels and Gambling. Click here to hear the entire interview.

Gambling:  "In the museum, I agree, they (9/11 hijackers) absolutely have a place that is important in this story . . . the narrative of what happened that unfortunate day, and days and years afterwards, but how about in the memorial section?"

Daniels:  "They certainly will not be in the memorial section. I recognize this is a tough issue because this is a site where so many people were murdered. It's a site where 40 percent of all the family members never got a stitch of human remains back from their loved ones so it is a sacred site. At the same time, our mission in the museum is also to educate. The future generations that are growing up now - my son, 7 years old, ask me, 'Why did it happen?' And including the terrorists, their images, which will be evidence photo images from the FBI . . . these are criminal mug shots essentially. It's just a part of the story and we're going to do it in a way that is sensitive to families that are coming. It won't be near the memorial exhibition, but it will be in the museum."

By Michael Frazier, Sr. Communications Manager for the 9/11 Memorial