(Please feel free to fix the link if I botched it.)
What do you think should be done? A mass grave?
The good news in this for me is that this is the first time I've seen an acknowlegement in print that people were simply pulverized. It was especially creepy knowing that at the time.
Anyway, I think this is an interesting problem. Not fascinating, but interesting. YMMV.
posted on July 14, 2002 10:03:30 AM new
One thing seems certain about the testing. It should require a very small sample if there are future improvements in testing so it should be enough to consolidate all the samples into a standard sample size in one small freezer at a local agency and destroy the bulk of the samples in a way that will satisfy most of the relatives. You are not going to satisfy everyone. But I am sure they are already unhappy with the state of the remains.
You have seen the ulta orthadox in Israel scraping the pavement at a bomb site? They would probably not be satisfied with less than putting the entire rubble load in coffins with a formal burial.
posted on July 14, 2002 11:46:04 AM new
Some kind of plaque, similar to the Vietnam Memorial wall in DC with names would serve to commemorate all the victims of this tragedy. I'm sure that by now, most families are resigned to the fact that remains will not be found.
posted on July 14, 2002 01:02:32 PM new
I think people who give other people false hopes to help them actually do more harm than they realize. No improvement in testing will recover DNA where there is none. And being in a furnace, soaked in kerosene, then water, then waiting a year provides a lot of nothing.
You simply have to tell the families there are no remains and then you commision your plaques or walls and have them stuck on the sides of 2 130 story buildings.
