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Pentagon: Some 9/11 victims’ remains dumped in landfill

By Nancy A. Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers –

WASHINGTON — Some cremated remains of people who were killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were disposed of in a landfill, the Pentagon revealed Tuesday, tracing the problems with the handling of remains at Dover Air Force Base back more than a decade.

A report by a panel that was tasked with reviewing procedures at Dover described “gross mismanagement” at the mortuary in Delaware where the nation’s war dead arrive, including the mishandling of remains from an unknown number of victims of the 9/11 attacks on the Pentagon and hijacked United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Shanksville, Pa.

Remains that couldn’t be identified or tested were cremated, the report said, and “then placed in sealed containers that were provided to a biomedical waste disposal contractor.” Asked to provide further details, retired Gen. John Abizaid, who led the panel, testily said, “You’ll have to ask the question elsewhere.”

The panel was formed after revelations last fall that similar practices had been followed for some of the unidentified remains of American war dead. Pentagon officials said Tuesday’s report was the first time they’d learned of the improper disposal of the remains of 9/11 victims.

The U.S. military has said the handling of its war dead is a sacred responsibility, but the panel’s report found that Pentagon leadership “failed to recognize and address repeated issues that violated the standard of care.” It made 20 recommendations for improving practices at Dover, including more training for mortuary workers and appointing a general to be responsible for it.

The report detailed several cases of mishandled remains or personal effects at the base. In 2006, the partial remains of four Navy personnel who’d died in a training plane crash were cremated and disposed of in a landfill. In January 2008, a Marine’s widow received a $25,000 payout for “mental anguish” when her husband’s personal effects were disposed of accidentally.

The panel also recommended that the military no longer perform full-body cremations. “We think that it’s a bad idea for the Department of Defense to be in the cremation business,” Abizaid said.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, the bodies of at least 6,000 fallen troops from Iraq and Afghanistan have been transported to Dover Air Force Base.

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