Posted on 06/02/2005 8:41:23 AM PDT by Brian Allen
This publication is generally full of bad news, so it is pleasant to report some good news for a change. Last week Donald Trump, the New York real estate entrepreneur and eccentric star of his own ‘reality’ television series, unveiled his plans for the World Trade Centre site. He received plenty of publicity for his plan, and most people are supporting it. Here he is with a model of the planned replacement:
Thank goodness somebody with as much experience in the field as Donald Trump has pointed out what everybody knows already – that the only satisfying solution is to rebuild the lost towers, keeping the design essentially the same, but strengthening the structure so that what happened in 2001 cannot happen again (if the Empire State Building had been hit, it would not have collapsed).
And Trump’s plan has an absolutely inspired addition: an extra floor. The Twin Towers are now 111 stories tall; a wonderful spit in the face for Usama bin Laden and his sub-human army of murdering goons.
The Twin Towers had been under attack by terrorists for years because they were such a perfect symbol of a free economy. The inimitable Patrick Spooner wrote years ago,
And the towers of the World Trade Center? They, I believe, are structures of incredible beauty too…These silvery monoliths shine with an internal fire, even on the gloomiest days.
To me they look like sophisticated electronic machine parts, conductors of energy, vastly enlarged.
Until these sublimely beautiful towers are rebuilt, the terrorists have won. Of course for victory, every Islamic fundamentalist on earth must be killed. Clearly that is essential if the civilized world is to be made safe. But if capitalism’s greatest symbol is replaced with the ugly and meaningless ‘Freedom Tower’, then Islamic terrorism has still had a victory..
I wrote in the New Australian within a week of the terrorist attack (“The Necessary Response”) that three things needed to happen to defeat Muslim extremism:
1. The United States should leave the United Nations within a fortnight of September 11. Then the terrorists would immediately understand that they had miscalculated the moral will of the USA, and that they were about to be attacked with absolute prejudice.
2. A massive and targeted thermonuclear missile attack should be launched against all Islamic terrorist training camps, destroying them utterly. After that, terrorist states like Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia etc. should be ordered to capture any remaining terrorists (they would have known who they were), and handed them over to the United States government. The alternative? The total destruction of those countries.
3. The rebuilding of the Twin Towers.
Even conservative friends were shocked by the articles, and thought that I had over-reacted. Today, regarding points 1) and 2), those friends now hold the views that I expressed, and in some cases have forgotten that they saw things quite differently four years ago.
The horribly-named ‘Freedom Tower’ was not the very worst plan. The most toxic elements of the left wanted to turn the site into a meaningless ‘Memorial Park’ for ‘indigenous Americans’, or ‘women’, or ‘Americans of African descent’, or some equally meaningless conglomerate of politically correct plasma.
The left know what is correct to a much greater extent than those who promote individual rights. They are a 100% accurate barometer, while I have never met anybody on the right who had not been seduced into holding left-wing views of one kind or another. In this case, they knew very well that the Twin Towers were the supreme, shining emblem of American capitalism. And that’s why they knew at once that they must never be rebuilt.
The ‘Freedom Tower’ is, at least, a tallish building, but it is morally corrupt in both its design, which is totally wrong for New York (although it might look ok in San Francisco), and in its name, which turns my stomach. As Donald Trump says,
“[The plan] "looks like a junkyard, a series of broken-down angles that don't match each other. And we have to live with this for hundreds of years?" he said.
“It is the worst pile of crap architecture I've ever seen in my life.”
And,
Trump described the existing design as “essentially a skeleton” at the top.
“If we rebuild the World Trade Center in the form of a skeleton, the terrorists win ... it is not appropriate for the United States, and it is not appropriate for freedom.”
Amen. He is absolutely right. The current replacement design is so bad that it looks like a committee designed by a committee, if such a thing is possible.
An American friend – a conservative, believe it or not – said that Trump should have gone through ‘the normal channels’. He couldn’t be more wrong. To have submitted his design to the original competition would have ensured defeat. This was a government competition, and the idea always is, after a building of great beauty has been tragically destroyed, to replace it with something as ugly, as gimcrack, and as repulsive as possible, as long as it is different from the original great building. Trump’s design would have been rejected because is not, in its essentials, different.
So he would have lost, and that would have rendered a lost cause the entirely proper and satisfying suggestion of rebuilding the towers as they were. But now it is not a lost cause. If there is any extra cost then the Federal Government must contribute. How much would that extra cost be, compared with fighting for the liberation of the people of the Arab states? And yet rebuilding the towers is a vital part of the whole picture of the War on Terror.
I believe that the office space can be filled. Surely the United States is not a nation of traumatized, counselor-seeking cowards quite yet. Having one’s address in the new Twin Towers should be considered a patriotic act. If there is trouble renting out the space, then the rents could always be lowered. Isn’t that the way a free economy works? But the towers must be rebuilt. This is much more important than profits.
However, there is one hurdle to overcome. The enemies of the United States have had fulsome and dedicated support over the last four years from those ever-reliable institutions, the mainstream media and the universities. But Donald Trump has government against him as well.
No politician in any country, and nobody in government in any country, has ever been capable of admitting that they were wrong. To have the current plan proceed would be a disaster, which would disfigure New York for a hundred years or more. However, the committee that chose the design couldn’t care less about that. The only thing that concerns them is not having to admit that they were wrong.
I wish him well, and warmly thank him for putting so much effort into trying to restore the optimistic pride of the United States, and for trying to save the beauty of the Manhattan skyline.
Amen!
I still like the idea of building 5 towers, rather than two, of varying heights, to show the world we're giving Terrorists The Finger. . but that's just me. Rebuild AS IT WAS, only bigger, better, taller. . .and with a SAM site and AAA emplacement on top of each. . .
I agree! :o)
Rebuild the towers, and relocate the United Nations to the top 20 floors.
Yes to the first, but relocate the UN to Harare, Zimbabwe!
If the top floors are not filled, make them a prison for the terrorists.
"Rebuild the towers, and relocate the United Nations to the top 20 floors."
Even better, they could raise pigs on the roof.
Oh, you said UN, so that base is covered. :)
This was a government competition ...The government doesn't do a damned thing that the private sector can't do better.
Give us back the towers.
Bring back the towers! I'd take a pay cut to work on the top floors.
Up yours a$$hole!!!
Um, the trade centers belong to the "Port Authority of New York and New Jersey" did they not?
And still do.
Absolutely! In a world of instant messaging and teleconferencing there is no need for a "UN". Move them to Zimbabwe. All I see is wasted real estate on the east side!
"I don't know whom to credit, but a FReeper years back came up with the perfect plan IMHO.
Rebuild the towers, and relocate the United Nations to the top 20 floors."
Now that's the best idea I've seen in a long time!
without windows of course. You would not want those blood sucking parasites enjoying their view.
Rebuilding the towers is a bad idea. I can't imagine a corporation taking the risk of moving back into a rebuilt tower in which every Islamic nutcase from now until the end of time would want to destroy again (it was attacked twice). Our country should not have to worry about the economic fallout of another disaster. Too many eggs in one basket should be a lesson learned. The government would need to continue with the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act as no company would want to insure that building otherwise.
I cheered out loud when I heard Trump say that. It's so true!
Are you an American?
Any time a terrorist blows something up, we should acquiesce and leave the ground bare like Allah intended it.
Good plan. For Spain.
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