Troops' Incinerated Remains Dumped in Landfill

How's this for a disturbing follow to yesterday's already disturbing report of how the main US military mortuary lost and otherwise mishandled troops' remains: The mortuary at the Dover Air Force Base routinely disposed of some body parts by incinerating them and dumping them in a landfill, reports the Washington Post. That was standard procedure from 2003 to 2008 for body parts that could not be identified.

The policy changed in 2008, and now the Air Force puts the ashes in urns and buries them at sea. “We have recognized a much better way of doing things,” an Air Force official tells the Post. “Let me be emphatic: I think the current procedures are better.” He could not estimate how many body parts ended up in the landfill in King George County, Virginia. Read the full story here. (More Dover Air Force Base stories.)