THE HEADY DAYS of unalloyed patriotism that followed September 11, in which Americans lost their hyphens and became heroes instead of victims, are over.

Firefighters Dan McWilliams, Billy Eisengrein, and George Johnson were captured in a now-famous photo, raising a flag, Iwo Jima-style, over the ground-zero wreckage. Copies of the photo–both legal and illegal–have spread throughout the world. So it would have seemed reasonable for the statue commemorating the moment, a model of which was unveiled on December 21, to have replicated the photo exactly.

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