Welcome to the Terrordome

Here's a scenario likely to terrify visitors—including Democratic National Convention delegates—in Denver. You are walking down the 16th Street pedestrian mall on a bright summer day. Children are riding bicycles. Families are picnicking. Suddenly a huge fireball explodes, shaking the earth and scorching everyone its path. Sirens wail. Ambulances rush to the scene. America's worst nightmare—a domestic terrorist attack—has once again come to pass.

Thankfully, this event did not really happen. But you can experience a virtual version of the next terrorist bombing in the American heartland at one of Denver's oddest convention-week attractions: the country's newest museum devoted exclusively to terrorism. Opened Monday afternoon with a visit from Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, the Center for Empowered Living and Learning (The CELL) is a high-tech, multimedia, Technicolor exhibit devoted to educating the American public about the realities—and root causes—of terrorism. Located in a modern building next to the futuristic Denver Art Museum, the exhibit is designed to educate the general public about what its creators term "the most important global issue of our time."

The exhibit includes graphic film footage and interactive displays devoted to terrorist acts around the world, ranging from the PLO massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics to the Oklahoma City bombings, the July 7, 2005, attacks on London Transport, and of course 9/11. Analysis is offered by familiar faces such as Rudy Giuliani and Michael Chertoff—as well as more unusual choices, like a former Archbishop of Canterbury. Civil-liberties issues are not ignored, though they get relatively short shrift. (Ironically, the exhibit includes an observation from Rand Corporation expert Brian Jenkins who notes that the actual risk to an American of being killed in a terror attack is about one in a million, compared to one-in-7,000 or -8,000 chance of being killed in a car accident.)

Organizers of the exhibit say it is totally nonpartisan and has no political message. But it may not be an accident that the $7 million exhibit was conceived and funded by Lawrence Mizel, a wealthy Denver homebuilder and longtime Republican Party donor, who, according to federal records, is a maxed-out contributor to Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign. In an interview, Mizel told Terror Watch he was only trying to increase public awareness and understanding of a global problem.

But those claims seemed a bit hollow Tuesday when former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, slated to be the keynote speaker at next week's Republican convention, showed up to see the exhibit—on Day Two of the Democratic convention. After touring the museum, an obviously choked-up Giuliani said it was a "moving" experience that should remind visitors that terrorism was "an ongoing problem," not an historical issue. Giuliani said he didn't want to make any political points during his visit. But as soon as he left, he drove straight over to local GOP headquarters and fired away. "The Democrats want to go back on defense against terrorism, want to cut back on wiretapping, want to cut back on surveillance, they want to cut back on interrogation techniques," he said. "Senator McCain wants to be on the offense."

Editor's Note: The original version of this story incorrectly reported that the Denver exhibit is the first museum in America devoted exclusively to terrorism. It is the latest such museum. The story has been corrected. Newsweek regrets the error.

Terror Watch appears weekly on Newsweek.com

© 2008