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"Readback" refers to the final stages of any Newsweek piece, as reporters and editors trade comments about how to make each article we run the best possible. But even after a piece lands in print or goes live online, that doesn't mean the story is over. This blog will call attention to the most interesting, amusing and insightful conversations that are happening in response to the news and Newsweek's stories. It will be updated daily to include viewpoints from reporters, editors and, most importantly, readers.

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Posted Tuesday, January 06, 2009 1:22 PM

Rationalizing the Remains of 9/11

Kurt Soller
In this week's magazine, Eve Conant put together a fascinating story about the identification and eventual resting place for the remains of the terrorists from the September 11 attacks. Much of the story focuses on how the remains were untangled using DNA testing. Of course, the majority of the families who lost a loved one in the attacks believe these ashes shouldn't be buried with the innocent. But as they sit in FBI refrigeration waiting for their fate, many readers had their own ideas as to where the ashes should end up. Naturally, toilets, trash heaps and swine fields were among the most popular answers.

But others thought through this a bit more. "Put the remains in the cement of the new towers," suggested one reader. "Let the terrorist see that no matter what they throw at us we will rebuild." Others agreed, more pessimistically: "Perhaps they should be buried under the new Freedom Tower, forever a doormat for those with actual souls." Elsewhere in New York, the reader Capt Maniac suggested that we "just bury them in an unmarked grave with no public attention or religious ceremony." That reader adds: "Destruction isn't the answer. My first instincts were to grind their ashes to dust and throw them on a garbage heap, but that's the terrorist's way of thinking. When we become them, they win."

According to another set of readers, even talking about this issue gives the terrorists more attention than they deserve. Many were unhappy that we paid such attention to the subject, drawing attention to a group of individuals and a day to which many readers would rather not return. "Leave them where they are in some freezer in some undisclosed location for all eternity to be forgotten by both the World & history," offered one commenter. "These cowards do not deserve anything resembling a Christian burial. Maybe the remains (or what is left of them) should be returned to their families so they can face the consequences." That wasn't the only reader who suggested returning the remains to the families. (But as Conant points out, accepting the ashes would be accepting the terrorists' guilt, so no family members have yet come forward). "Yes, they did a horrible thing. However, murderer's remains are handled over to family members daily. If they have the ability to separate out of the innocents, then by all means they should have the ability to turn over those remains to the families. We would expect the same from other countries." Echoed one other: "They should return whatever is left of the hijackers to their families even if they have been too afraid to come forward and ask for them. Their mothers, most likely, were never involved in the fanaticism they believed in."
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Posted By: TIMSMOM (January 8, 2009 at 7:37 PM)

THE TERROISTS REMAINS SHOULD BE FLUSHED DOWN THE TOILET. "FINAL ANSWER"  TIMSMOM

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Posted By: westny (January 8, 2009 at 9:09 AM)

I am still waiting for identification of remains of my husband from 9/11. Perhaps one day I will have the opportunity to return him to his place of birth so he can rest near family.  Same should go for the remains of the 9/11 attackers, they should be returned to their next of kin or any family member that can be located.  It is actually appalling to think this hasn't been done.

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