Any Troops Killed in Chemical, Bio Attacks May Be Cremated

The Pentagon is considering cremating the remains of any U.S. troops killed by biological or chemical attacks in Iraq rather than bringing them home for burial, defense officials said Thursday.

The measure would be designed to prevent the spread of chemical or biological agents from contaminated bodies to people on the home front, the officials said.

The Pentagon has for decades gone to great lengths in an attempt to recover for burial the body of every U.S. soldier, sailor and airman killed abroad.

“This would be a first,” said Lt. Col. Cynthia Colin, a Pentagon spokeswoman. “At this point, we believe it’s a prudent step for the department to re-look at the policy and make sure we have considered a variety of scenarios that could play out, including chemical and biological agents, and make sure we give commanders a variety of options. Cremation is one of the options being considered.”

U.S. intelligence officials believe that Saddam Hussein’s regime possesses chemical and biological agents, and the Pentagon is bracing for the possibility that his forces might employ them against American troops. Soldiers, sailors and airmen are being trained to respond to such attacks and are being outfitted with protective gear.

But the issue of how to deal with the possibility that the corpses of Americans killed in action could become health hazards is controversial and fraught with emotion.

Pentagon officials declined to go into detail Thursday on the substance of the review, saying only that cremation is among the options being considered “if remains pose a hazard to the health and safety of the living.”

During the 1991 Persian Gulf War, plans were reportedly in place for mass burials and cremation of any troops killed by chemical or biological agents, but they never had to be implemented.

The current review, which began last month, is being conducted by officials of the Army’s Mortuary Affairs program, which is charged with the recovery of all service member remains, and by health and safety officials from all four branches of the military, Colin said.

Since the repatriation of remains became a political rallying point during and after the Vietnam War, the military has sought to immediately return the remains of personnel killed overseas. Bodies typically are sent back to the U.S. for burial within seven days, according to the Army.

In earlier wars, fallen soldiers were often buried in makeshift cemeteries near where they were killed. In the two world wars, more than 307,000 American soldiers were buried overseas. Of those, more than 47,000 were later returned to the U.S. for interment.

Under current policy, soldiers often risk their lives to retrieve fallen comrades and bring them back to their families. In the case of plane crashes and other catastrophic events, teams scour the site for remains and personal effects. The military pays for mortuary services but leaves the question of whether to bury or cremate the body to the family.

“We return the remains as expeditiously as possible, while maintaining the dignity, respect and care of our deceased,” Colin said. “We want to bring the remains back, that’s our goal. But we have to do it safely, and we have to make sure we consider the health and medical concerns that may arise if chemical and biological agents come into play.”