Family members say there may be a place for that discussion, but not at the memorial.

"No one who has come to the World Trade Center in the past four years has asked about world politics. Why? Because it isn't the appropriate place. Everyone knows that," said Edie Lutnick, who lost a brother, Gary, in the attacks." You want world politics? Go to the U.N."

The family groups, who say their concerns are not being heard by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, are taking their fight to block the International Freedom Museum to the public by seeking signatures on a petition at their web site, www.takebackthememorial.com.

"The International Freedom Center will become a magnet for protest," said Charles Wolf, whose wife was killed in attacks and leads the Coalition of 9/11 Families. Wolf said his concern is that the museum would be an ideological-based organization and one that "does not belong as part of a memorial experience."

"I'm all for freedom of speech," he added, "but there is a right place and a wrong place. "This is the wrong place."

At a later news conference, John Cahill, appointed by Gov. George Pataki to lead the rebuilding effort, defended the Center and said it would not be allowed to become a place for "left wing or right wing politics."

"It's important what we have here is not a place for political polemics," he said "but a place to memorialize the history of man's march toward freedom and to remember the role that Sept. 11 plays in that important march."