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.
Any hijacker remains should just quietly be disposed of at an unspecified landfill, or put on one of the barges and dumped at sea, along with the rest of the garbage.
Second, actually...
There used to be a diet candy named "Aids".
I suspect "Atta Boy" will shortly end up in the same pit of marketing perdition.
With that attitude, we're finished.
Hell, why not bury them with full military honors? I mean, if you want to appear civilized to these barbarians, then isn't that what's called for, if we really view their attack as an act of war?
The only thing these animals respect is force. Overwhelming force. Anything short of that will merely bolster their confidence, and assure them that we're a target that's safe to attack.
Ah... Those were the days. This article got me thinking about another of their hypocracies. Aren't Muslims, by Islamic law, supposed to be buried within 24 hours of death? I think their remains should conveniently dissappear like Kennedy's autopsy records.
We are in the light, they're the ones in the darkness. If the proper return/disposal of the enemies remains goes ahead and just one enemy raghead somewhere in the future responds with an ounce of decency toward one of our fallen, it will be payment in full with interest. I pray that all our fallen grunts, spooks, pilots and spec forces combatants return home without post mortem mutilation by those enemy ______ barbarians. But I can't help thinking it will require a bone fide miracle to prevent said mutilation.
We're dealing with absolute scum (kamikaze mind set).
"So, little Ashraf, if you give your life in the service of Allah you will immediately enter the gates of Paradise, there to have all your pleasures indulged: women, virgin women, wine, etc., etc.. Unless, of course, the infidel should get hold of your remains and deep fry you in hog fat, in which case, the whole deal's off, though your death, now completely pointless from your point of view, will still advance our cause--I mean, advance the cause of Allah. So what do you say? Can I help you cinch up that backpack full of dynamite?"
You've done a perfect job of summing up the psycops part of this battle. Even if we don't actually desecrate the bodies, the doubt this would place in their heads would only help us.
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