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Hijackers' bodies set Bush grisly ethical question
The Times (U.K.) ^ | 10/06/2001 | DAMIAN WHITWORTH

Posted on 10/05/2001 4:51:32 PM PDT by Pokey78

IN carefully numbered plastic bags in refrigerated trucks parked at the mortuary at Dover Air Force base in Delaware sit human remains that have presented the Bush Adminstration with an ethical problem.

US investigators told The Times that they had certainly recovered, if not yet identified, the bodies of several of the suicide hijackers, prompting a debate over how to dispose of what is left of the most hated men in America.

The excavation of the Pentagon and Pennsylvania crash sites was completed this week after forensics experts concluded that they had removed all body parts from both scenes. Officials said that although many of the remains were fragmented and charred, DNA tests would eventually identify all of the victims. The bodies of the men who killed them would also be identified, if only by a process of elimination.

The Administration is worried that if it gives the bodies to their families to bury there will be a public outcry. There are also concerns that other Islamic extremists would regard their graves as shrines.

The remains from the plans that crash into Pentagon and in Pennsylvania are being organised at the mortuary at Dover. Some have been identified by traditional methods, such as fingerprints, dental records and other distinguishing features.

Already hundreds of fragments have been taken in test tubes to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) laboratories in Rockville, Maryland, for DNA testing. The institute identified all 230 victims of TWA 800 flight, after that aircraft exploded and the fragments plunged into Long Island Sound in 1996.

Paul Sledzik, the forensic anthropologist who led the search for the 44 passengers, crew and hijackers on board Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania, said that he was confident “we are likely to get 44 unique DNA profiles”. Scientists will use genetic material taken from the victims’ possessions, including razors and toothbrushes, or from their relatives, to make DNA matches that reveal the identities of the victims.

The FBI is believed to be extremely anxious to identify the bodies of the hijackers, especially as there are still doubts about some of their identities and there could be trials of other conspirators.

If relatives are persuaded to co-operate in providing reference samples, or the hijackers have left behind genetic material on possessions, the FBI believes that they could be identified.

Even if the identities are not clarified, the authorities will be left with the remains of nine hijackers from the two sites.

There is a precedent for handing over the remains of even the most notorious figures in American life. The body of Gamil el-Batouty, the co-pilot of EgyptAir Flight 990, who apparently committed suicide by crashing the aircraft into the Atlantic in 1999, was quietly returned to his family in Egypt last year for a private burial.

Even the nation’s most loathed murderers are allowed burial after execution.

Chris Kelly of the AFIP indicated that the authorities were reluctant to consider releasing the hijackers’ bodies. “We are not quite sure what will happen to them,” he said, but “we doubt very much we are going to be making an effort to reach family members over there.”

A source close to the investigation said: “There is this idea that if America is a country of justice it should not be seen to stop the mothers of even the worst monsters from burying their sons, but people would be outraged if these men were handed over for a Muslim burial.”

The Justice Department declined to return calls requesting comment on what it planned to do with the hijackers’ bodies. In the short term the remains are likely to be held for several years, in case of legal proceedings.

Mohammed Atta, the suspected ringleader of the hijackers who died in the first plane to hit the World Trade Centre, laid out strict instructions for his funeral in his will, revealed this week.

The likelihood of any sort of burial of his body is, however, vastly diminished by the difficulties of retrieving remains at the World Trade Centre. Of the more than 5,000 who died there, fewer than 400 bodies have been identified.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
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To: goldstategop
I'm with you on that.
141 posted on 10/05/2001 8:01:51 PM PDT by Hillary 666
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To: Pokey78
There must be a land fill in the U.S. preparing to shut down,dump the bast$%#s remains without press or ceremony.

That's more than they deserve!

142 posted on 10/05/2001 8:02:30 PM PDT by mdittmar
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To: nmh
I say send the remains to Hugh Hefner and his bunnies at the Playboy Mansion. Atta didn't want a woman anywhere near him in death. Anyway let the bunnies inter what's left of these creeps and then have a giant pig roast to toast the occasion.
143 posted on 10/05/2001 8:05:22 PM PDT by surrey
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Comment #144 Removed by Moderator

To: Pokey78
These animals deserve nothing in the way of civllized behavior toward their earthly remains. They are pigs and their remains need to be hung in public and left to rot into nothingness.
145 posted on 10/05/2001 8:07:22 PM PDT by Bombard
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To: Pokey78
US investigators told The Times that they had certainly recovered, if not yet identified, the bodies of several of the suicide hijackers, prompting a debate over how to dispose of what is left of the most hated men in America.

Is there some traditional Middle Eastern mode of dishonorable burial? No, I'm not talking about this adolescent fantasies involving porcine body parts. I mean is there seriously some tradition in the Arab or Moslem world, where the bodies of cowards can be dishonorably disposed of?

EX: In ancient Rome, a suicide had his or her hand removed and buried separately, because self-murder was an abominable act in that culture.

I'm serious. I think it would be a fitting thing to dispose of these bodies in a manner that resonates with the world from which they came.

146 posted on 10/05/2001 8:08:48 PM PDT by Illbay
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To: mdittmar
This is the single most important test of the beginning phases of this war. If we can do something to discourage the other river rats that infest us, we will win. If we are ruled by PC, then our nation is doomed and maybe it's better that way. Maybe what rises from the ashes will resemble the real America. We must pray for wisdom to prevail.
147 posted on 10/05/2001 8:09:39 PM PDT by Technocrat
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To: Pokey78
Send their remains to the Trojans factory where their molecules can be processed into prophyllactics. Then send them on to the Public Health department in San Francisco. Their family members will be proud of their service helping to prevent AIDS amongst American gays.
148 posted on 10/05/2001 8:12:55 PM PDT by rogue_agent
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To: irish_lad
I need to expel some atta from my clymer.
149 posted on 10/05/2001 8:23:35 PM PDT by Vigilanteman
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To: Bombard
Oh can we think of what to do with the animals. All those ideas sound reasonable.

Now, what shall we do with any of them found, tried, convicted and sentenced to death... what kind of death. No lethel injection for these guys... I have an idea....do to them the worst of what they have done to people of their own nation . We could do them in one by one in front of one another... put them in formation so they can watch... the last to go will not go on an empty stomach... or he shouldn't be allowed to.

First we take Osama and skin him alive... like his taliban buddies did to a man for some infraction... then cook him on an open spit and make his followers dine on him. Then repete the process until the last Bas*Ttar@ is gone!!Then with the last one, put him in a lard "bomb" and send him to his into the depths of some sewer where the rest of the world can poop on him forever. Or is this too kind?

150 posted on 10/05/2001 8:24:31 PM PDT by celtic gal
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To: dubya_wins_again
Perhaps someone should contact the folks at "Ripley's...." They have 1001 ways of coming up with an interesting display, and a portion of all proceeds could go to families of the victims. It's either that or bury them totally as requested in a shrine on Fresh Kill island, after designating the island as a natural habitat for swine, both living and breathing and the unimaginable kind...... P.S. Consider that Jesus cast out the demons into......SWINE!!!!!!!
151 posted on 10/05/2001 8:25:03 PM PDT by snickeroon
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To: ChinaThreat
The pig feed shall be fed to the diritest swine Arkansas can produce.

I know the Clintons are desperate for media.... but do you really think they are going to eat that?

152 posted on 10/05/2001 8:27:29 PM PDT by Mid-MI Student
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To: Pokey78
Well, gosh, what about a few DNA test to postively identify them? Too much to ask?

I mean, does the FBI has powers of clairvoyance, can they read minds, identify the remains of bad men through sheer brainpower alone?

After all, these were the same people who just screwed up and allowed the fanatics to bomb the buildings in the first place.

153 posted on 10/05/2001 8:27:31 PM PDT by Reactionary
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To: Pokey78
I don't get it. They don't even know who they are. Their ID's were all stolen or forged. How in the world do they know who their family members are?
154 posted on 10/05/2001 8:29:44 PM PDT by Demidog
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To: Dog
How about burying their remains in a pig pen....

sounds good to me ... put some pork sausage with that bastard and toss him in a box ...
155 posted on 10/05/2001 8:31:00 PM PDT by Bobby777
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To: Reactionary
Great questions, look at the post below yours. How can you have an ethical dillema about returning the bodies to their families when they don't really know who these people are?
156 posted on 10/05/2001 8:31:58 PM PDT by Demidog
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To: ~Peter
Toss them in a dumpster ....... and let the rats have 'em.

Then take pictures of them being dumped in a land fill. The caption could read, "the latest film of the terrorists".

157 posted on 10/05/2001 8:34:19 PM PDT by The Real Deal
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To: Pokey78
No burial. No cremation. No pigs. No ceremony.

Simply put their remains in a rocket and blast it into the heavens so that their remains are released into the void of space far from earth.

158 posted on 10/05/2001 8:34:25 PM PDT by father_elijah
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To: Pokey78
I suggest placing the body parts in a glass container set outside in the warm sun with a live web cam set up so the whole world can see the maggots eating the bastards
159 posted on 10/05/2001 8:35:49 PM PDT by dubl-00
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To: Pokey78
I suggest placing the body parts in a glass container set outside in the warm sun with a live web cam set up so the whole world can see the maggots eating the bastards.
160 posted on 10/05/2001 8:36:09 PM PDT by dubl-00
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