This is topic Momentos of terror attacks in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


To visit this topic, use this URL:
http://www.hatrack.com/ubb/main/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=022355

---

Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
 
Donald Rumsfeld, among others, has been accused of collecting souvenirs of the 9-11 attacks. As much as I dislike Rumsfeld, I had to wonder whether there might be an appropriate set of circumstances under which top officials in our Defense and Intelligence agencies might well want to retain reminders of those events.

It could be a sort of penance -- "we let this happen on our watch" kind of thing. If that's what it is about, then I'm all for it. In fact, why not let every one of them carry around a shard of their failure if they want to. It would actually improve my opinion of them. If that was the purpose.

But it does appear that some of the items were collected as personal favors to dignitaries and distributed as gifts. I'm not sure the motivation behind such a gift, but it does seem macabre...
 

---

Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
 
Bob,

This is Rumsfeld - so humility and penance aren't the likeliest explanations for his behavior.

Having said that, the only item specifically mentioned in an article (linked below) is of the plane that crashed into the pentagon. It's kept in plain sight on a table in his office. A spokesperson says he "doesn't consider it his own."

I'm not a fan of the guy, but if this is the extent of his "souvenirs" (term used in the article), there's probably not much to complain about.

There's a much bigger problem, though, when it comes to FBI agents - who were collecting souvenirs at the World Trade Center, just for personal gratification or maybe even profit.

Here's the article:

Rumsfeld and Others Kept 9-11 Items
 

---

Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
 
Bob...I can understand your point about penance.

But, it just bothers me that there are these pieces of such horrible events floating around to be gaped at and ooh'd and aah'd over. I agree with the person who, in one of the news articles about this, called it "ghoulish". That's exactly what it is, no matter who it is who has them. Rumsfeld included.
 

---

Posted by Danzig (Member # 4704) on :
 
I promise I am not trying to be inflammatory here, but... what is the problem? 9/11 was a historic event, and if I was connected to it more closely than I actually am I might have wanted a piece of it as well. I see little difference between that and the exploration of Tutankhamen's tomb. Buying and selling is a little tacky, I guess, but less so than half the items you find in a mall.

Personal items belonging to a victim are different; those should of course be returned to the families. But a piece of shrapnel... I honestly cannot understand why it should be a big deal.
 

---

Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
 
From the article:

quote:

---

The report stated FBI agents who worked in New York repeatedly expressed their disgust that visiting colleagues and supervisors would "want to take items, including pieces of the building which were contaminated with blood and human body parts."

The report disclosed that among the items taken, agents had cut World Trade Center security patches from the sleeves of shirt pieces found in the rubble.

---