The president of the museum that seeks to relate the events of September 11, 2001, to a global historical movement toward freedom said yesterday it is unclear how Iraq will be treated in its exhibitions – if at all.

A 48-page presentation of the contents of the proposed International Freedom Center at ground zero, released last week, contained no reference to the war or elections in Iraq.

The plan details exhibitions that honor the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., the protests at Tiananmen Square, the fall of the Berlin Wall, Nelson Mandela, Soviet-era dissident Andrei Sakharov, and contemporary Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo.

The freedom center will also memorialize Pat Tillman, who according to the plan, “after the attacks quit a career in professional football to fight and die in Afghanistan.”

The president of the museum, Richard Tofel, told The New York Sun that the museum is unlikely to open for at least four or five years and now lacks the historical perspective to judge the events in Iraq.

Mr.Tofel said he could envision outcomes in Iraq that could warrant its inclusion or omission.

“It is likely to be extraordinarily different in five years than what it is today. I don’t think anyone could have any clue,” Mr. Tofel said. “Asking how a museum of freedom will treat Iraq in five years is very similar to asking how a newspaper will cover Iraq in five years.”

“I don’t think the question, quite frankly, is entirely relevant,” he said.

Mr. Tofel said that the decision of how of treat the Iraq War would ultimately belong to freedom center’s nine-member board of directors.

This summer, the state agency in charge of ground zero, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, came under pressure from victims’ family members and the city’s police and fire unions who fear that the museum will contain offensive or overly political material.

Following instructions from the LMDC, the freedom center released more detailed plans last week. Those plans described a museum that will portray September 11 as a pivotal event in a “constantly evolving world movement” toward freedom “in which America has played a leading role.”

Supporters of the project say that the museum’s broad scope will give meaning to the tragedy, encourage learning, and prevent ground zero from feeling like a permanent graveyard.

Critics charge that focusing on freedom instead of the day’s events will bring unwelcome uncertainty over the museum’s content and constant debate.

Thomas Roger, who is the father of a flight attendant on a plane that crashed into the World Trade Center, said that the topic of Iraq was too controversial to include in the museum. Mr. Roger serves on the freedom center’s family advisory group.

“At this point, the last thing that I would want to see the freedom center doing is covering issues that are currently controversial,” Mr. Roger said. “We have enough problems convincing people that talking about Abe Lincoln is not controversial.”

An outspoken opponent of the museum, Debra Burlingame, who is the sister of a pilot of the hijacked plane that crashed into the Pentagon, said that, as proposed, the museum “will be chronicling humankind’s quest for freedom, except for anything that is controversial.”

Rep. Vito Fossella, a Republican who has proposed hearings in Washington over the use of federal funds for the project, said that, as proposed, the museum would invite debate over what constitutes a “freedom fighter.”

“We happen to think that in an area where almost 3,000 people were killed, it should solemnly and appropriately acknowledge and memorialize that loss,” Mr. Fossella said. “It’s not a venue, or a stage, or a place to debate anything else.”

A spokesman for the LMDC, John Gallagher, said that board members have indicated they would not comment on the content of the proposal.

The freedom center will present its plans in front of Community Board 1 tonight at 6 p.m. The LMDC’s next scheduled meeting is October 6.