Rep. Michael Grimm plans to launch an effort to turn a steel beam cross recovered from the rubble of the World Trade Center into a national monument in honor of those who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
In an interview with
Fox News, the New York Republican said he would introduce legislation Wednesday recognizing the two steel beams forming the cross as a symbol of “comfort and hope,” and he took issue with the group American Atheists that has sued to block the beams from being publicly displayed as a “Christian icon.”
“It is not about Christianity. This cross was a symbol of comfort and hope for 9/11 first responders, for families, for all those that were part of this horrific, horrific terrorist attack,” Grimm told Fox News. “And it’s part of the healing process. It’s part of that closure, and it’s part of the history of that situation.”
Grimm also criticized as “reprehensible” the Obama administration decision to issue guidelines to federal agencies and U.S. embassies abroad on how to commemorate the upcoming 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
The guidelines, according to a report in the New York Times, warn of the possibility of another terrorist attack but suggest that references to Al Queda be minimized because the terrorist group has become increasingly irrelevant in the face of peaceful protests and dramatic changes in many Arab countries.
“How I reflect on 9/11 is certainly a personal liberty,” Grimm said. “And to think that the president of the United States would put out a guideline because, what, I’m not capable of doing it myself — I think that goes to the arrogance and the hubris of this administration.”
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