Daniel Liberkind's design for the rebuilding of New York's World Trade Center. | ZOOM |

It's appropriate that the site where the 110-story World Trade Center towers once stood will remain a tribute to victims of terrorism. At the same time, boldly designed buildings surrounding what will be the world's tallest structure can represent the resurgent American spirit.

A plan by German architectural team Studio Daniel Libeskind replaces the World Trade Center towers, awesome symbols of the power of American capitalism, with new office buildings, a memorial green and a 1,776-feet-spire.

Nearly half of the original 70-feet-deep foundation of the World Trade will remain exposed as well.

New York Gov. George Pataki told The New York Times that Libeskind's design is "an inspiring symbol that will reach into the sky and that will let the world know that the terrorists have failed."

Because Americans are so emotionally tied to the site, it was important that any new construction there, where more than 2,800 victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks died, needed to have a place to preserve their memories.

Architect Daniel Libeskind at a press conference in New York Thursday. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

We all still mourn lives lost and the collective memory of that horrible day when mass-murder terrorism from abroad slammed into the United States.

In the subsequent 18 months, United States armed forces have targeted the al-Qaida network of terrorists, deposed the Taliban regime in Afghanistan that supported it, and are preparing to fight a war in Iraq, whose leader Saddam Hussein has been linked to terrorist activity.

Meanwhile, the huge hole in lower Manhattan remains a somber reminder of our wounded American spirit. We need the area to live again, even as we remember what happened.

Details, including costs of redevelopment, will be worked out soon.

More important, Libeskind's plan represents a first step toward long-term healing for the nation and sends a defiant message that America remains unbowed.