For the record, I never much liked the idea of a monument at “ground zero.” I wanted the World Trade Center rebuilt, even bigger. As I wrote at the time: “When the World Trade Center was first constructed it was the tallest building in the world. When it was destroyed, it was the fifth. America isn’t fifth at anything worth being first at. It’s time we had the tallest building in the world again.”

And, “America will find an appropriate way to mourn. But if we must have a shrine or monument for our remorse, let’s put it on the 200th floor, right next to the antiaircraft guns.”

I always liked the reader suggestion to name the new towers “Freedom” and “Unity” and let al-Qaeda figure out what the initials stand for.