Media Hype, "Remains of some 9-11 victims went to landfill"

There are some things that the public just doesn't need to be told and some things they are told seem more designed to stir up contentions, sell newspapers of draw an audience to a certain TV or Radio News station. The headline titled in this post seems to be a perfect example of that from Portland, Oregon's KPTV 12.

Remains of some 9-11 victims went to landfill

Reading the headline, who wouldn't be angered believing human remains from the terrorist attacks were so cavalierly dumped in a landfill? Who wouldn't be concerned over ecological damage from human remains just thrown out in an open landfill?

Reading the article, we see that this was revealed as part of the investigation into the military's mortuary at Dover, Del. who was accused of "gross mismanagement" over "some cremated partial remains of at least 274 American war dead were dumped in a Virginia landfill," as was allowed by a policy that was changed in 2008.

We are told of the investigative committee's chairman, retired Gen. John Abizaid saying, "We don't think it should have happened."

I couldn't agree more that remains of our fallen should be treated with a great deal more respect.

But what of the revelation of remains of 9/11 victims being dumped in a landfill too?

We read, "The number of victims involved was unclear according to a Pentagon report, but it involved some of those killed when a terrorist-hijacked airplane struck the Pentagon, killing 184, and another crashed in Shanksville, Pa., killing 40."

That is still enough to anger anybody, if that is all we are told.

But dropping down to the very last part of the AP article we read, "This policy began shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, when several portions of remains from the Pentagon attack and the Shanksville, Pa., crash site could not be tested or identified."

"It said the partial remains were cremated, then given to a biomedical waste disposal contractor who incinerated them and took them to a landfill."

These were remains that for whatever reason, could not be matched by DNA testing and had no way of identifying where they belonged.

So, they were cremated, then incinerated by proper bio-waste disposal methods before being disposed of, just as is all bio-waste if properly disposed of.

What else would be expected to do with them? Saving them seems a bit ghoulish to me.

I suppose they could have been memorialized, but were there plans for memorials at the time? What Memorials were being planned shortly after, were they not with the remains of known victims?

We aren't told the amount of remains or even the size.

It just seems someone at AP is going out of their way to sensationalize something that there is no need to and stir up contentions.

The remains were disposed of properly in accordance with proper procedures in effect for disposing of bio-waste and hazardous materials. Just as is done with the placenta after birth or any other bio-waste generated in hospitals.

Just more media hype and disinformation.