Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05257/570800.stm
On September 14, 2005 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran an editorial responding to a controversy over the proposed design for a memorial to the victims of Flight 93, the plane that crashed in a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, 2001. The design includes an arc of maple trees that critics say will appear as a "red crescent" in the fall, a symbol of Islam. The Post-Gazette editorial staff comments, "[L]ike those who look at innocent kids trick-or-treating at Halloween and see only the devil's work, a few small and suspicious minds couldn't look past the crescent to see a remarkably sensitive design. According to a marginal minister of religion, as well as some bloggers and letter writers, the crescent is a symbol of Islam and therefore its presence here memorializes the hijackers... [But] the hijackers who struck on 9/11 also hijacked Islam; there are tens of millions of Muslims who lead decent lives and abide in U.S.- allied countries with crescents on their flags. The United States is not at war with Islam -- despite Osama bin Laden trying to depict Americans as 'crusaders,' an effort that can only be helped by unthinking critics making a big deal about crescents. As it is, the maple trees making up the crescent in Somerset County could just as well be called an arc -- the word crescent came from the vocabulary of architecture... As the only consolation to the critics, let's call it the Arc of Embrace and now let it work its magic."