New York's Sept 11 museum to display hijacker perspective

Previous attempts to put into context the motivation of the men who used hijacked passenger planes to attack the United States on September 11, 2001, have been met with emotional public opposition, with politicians canceling plans for an "International Freedom Center" in 2005.

But the president of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum said photographs of the 19 hijackers would be displayed along with the quotes as part of the "witness testimony" in the museum.

The memorial and museum are planned for the World Trade Center site undergoing reconstruction in lower Manhattan. The underground museum should open by 2013.

Museum president Joe Daniels told reporters the exhibit would present the facts, focusing on "what happened on that day, why it happened, what does it mean to live in a 9/11 world."

"Let the perpetrators speak for themselves," Daniels said.

The museum has possession of videotapes the hijackers made in preparation for the suicide attacks and Reuters previously reported that visitors could play back the tapes, citing Daniels.