Kat, it is more than a site that was the scene of a loss of life. There are bodies that were never recovered and that ground was the last spot that many of these human beings took their last breath. For all intents and purposes, those bodies are still in that ground.   It would be like putting up a shopping mall over Arlington.

From an historic viewpoint, we can argue back and forth over the semantics of calling it a battleground.   For most of the world, that site is the spot where life on this planet was altered. As historic preservationists, there is some sort of respect that needs to be paid.

It is amazing. I read an interesting article on some people who are trying to preserve stone walls in New England. Many of the walls that farmers erected several hundred years ago are being scavenged or torn down. People want to preserve this. There are people who climb trees and spend months sitting to preserve an historic redwood. A lunch counter in Alabama was saved when the Woolworths went out of business in order for future generations to see where the civil rights movement began to be seen in the eyes of America. You can't sneeze in Ireland without hitting some sort of ancient ruin. Yet there are people who think nothing about forgetting a site that will be significant to future generations who will want to understand what 9/11 meant. This is more than just religious significance, or a monument to a war, this is a piece of history and lives that deserve some respect.   

Ron