Randi Rhodes Forums

Nice work, AF. All in a days work I suppose.



http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-5 ... mproperly/
November 8, 2011 6:58 PM

Air Force covered up botched handling of remains

By
David Martin
(CBS News)

On Tuesday, the Air Force said that the morgue that cares for the remains of the war dead had lost body parts. This raises serious questions about how those remains of fallen American troops have been handled once they returned home. CBS News correspondent David Martin reports on the matter.

There was "gross mismanagement" in the solemn, gut-wrenching return of the fallen from Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a letter to President Obama from the Office of Special Counsel, which investigates whistleblower complaints.

"We found a pattern of misconduct," said Carolyn Lerner, who heads the office. "They knew about these problems about two-and-a half years ago and only recently took action to correct them."

The grisly fact is that many of the remains arrive at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware in pieces. The investigation found two cases in which body parts of a soldier and an Air Force pilot were either lost or misplaced.

Once again the military falls victim to the inevitable result of being so thoroughly populated by human beings, failing to prove itself infallible and up to the standards of perfection upheld by so many institutions across the globe and in more enlightened nations than our own.

This is pretty bad. It wasn't the fact that the Air Force lost some remains of some soldiers.
It was the fact that they tried to cover it up once it was known to have happened.

I think it is pretty dispicable that someone would look the other way after they found out about this situation. You know that this sort of thing got back to the top Generals in the Pentagon and that the Secretary of the Defense was aware of it. I think the remains of those deceased soldiers deserved better treatment than this!! I remember a time when they used to care about fallen soldiers in this country. It seems like a hundred years ago now.

Well it probably costs quite a bit to deal properly with dead soldiers, especially if they are arriving in pieces. We apparently don't care enough about the live ones to spend the money necessary to take care of them when they come back. I think it's unrealistic to expect that the dead will fare better than the living in this regard.

From everything I've read thus far, this hasn't been a funding problem. Somebody screwed up and made a mistake, and then realizing what a mortifying, dreadful error it was, others chose to try and cover it up.

As we've known for a very long time, stupid mistakes, a moment of carelessness, or even acts of wrongdoing or malfeasance, are virtually always made much, MUCH worse by the cover ups.

I think this is a horrible waste. Why should bits and pieces from dead solders simply be discarded? Surely there is some value to be created here somehow. My solution would be to make them into fertilizer. It would be one last way for them to support and enrich the Corporate machine for which they fought and died.

Once rendered fit for the garden the remains could be bagged up in suitably patriotic packaging: stars, eagles, fireworks, Uncle Sams, Norman Rockwell. I don't know. But happy heartwarming God Bless America things. What better way to display your love for this country then by having a bag of Warrior Wonder in your garage and using the contents to grow the best most patriotic tomatoes ever?
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/n ... ins09.html

One must also keep in mind that it's really up to the loved ones of the war dead as to what happens to their remains. Some folks might be fine with your idea. Some may be offended. But, we both agree that the AF must handle these bodys and their parts with respect and care.