Washington, February 02: The US Air Force officials have participated in “acts of retaliation” against the whistleblowers responsible for uncovering the practice of dumping soldiers’ remains in a landfill.
A US Office of Special Counsel investigation revealed that the four mortuary workers who reported the practice were suspended for doing so, and at least one of them, James Parsons, was fired, while another, William Zwicharowski, was labeled “mentally unstable” by officials.
However, such retaliation is illegal under the Whistleblower Protection Act, a United States federal law that protects federal whistleblowers who work for the government and report agency misconduct.
According to a Washington Post report in December, the incinerated partial remains of at least 274 American troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan had been dumped in the King George county landfill in Virginia.
The US Air Force is reported to have dumped the cremated partial remains in the landfill between 2004 and 2008. The practice was brought to attention after a report in November described “gross mismanagement of soldiers’ remains” at the Dover Air Force base.
According to whistleblowers responsible for the exposure some body parts were lost, burned, cut away and even dumped as garbage in the landfill before the disturbing practice came to a halt in 2009.
The employees say that such orders were authorized by their superiors, who asked them to remain silent on the matter.
None of the supervisors responsible were fired. Instead, two were transferred and the commander of the unit was given a reprimand.
At least 6,325 US service members have lost their lives since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
——Agencies