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Subscribe to RSSPentagon and Air Force officials confirm that the supervisor at the center of the Dover mortuary scandal has resigned.
Quinton Keel was the division director at the Dover mortuary when allegations of the mishandling of America's war dead were first reported. Keel himself was accused of lying to federal investigators and retaliation against three whistleblowers. he government's Office of Special Counsel accused him of "negligence, misconduct and dishonesty." He was also accused of ordering the mutilated arm of a dead Marine sawed off so the body would fit into his uniform for burial.
The latest investigations had found that partial remains of victims killed in the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon, along with those of service members killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, had been incinerated and dumped in a Virginia landfill.
Two other supervisors remain under investigation for alleged attempts to retaliate against the whistleblowers who first brought the issues at Dover to the attention of federal investigators.
The Air Force and Pentagon had resisted repeated calls from members of Congress and veterans groups that someone be fired over the scandal. That appeared to change earlier this week, when the White House announced the president was "deeply concerned" over the growing scandal and reports that unidentified remains of 9/11 victims had been dumped in a landfill.
As for Quinton Keel, one senior defense officials told NBC News today that "If he hadn't quit, he would have been fired."
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OMG!! Just when you think people can't go any lower..... you hear news like this.
The problem is that in today's world people continually get rewarded for bad behavior. it's time for the pedalum to start swinging back the other way.
Duh ... he's a federal employee.
All kidding aside .... about 300 federal employees were fired last year .... OUT OF 2.1 MILLION EMPLOYEES.
If this guy didn't get fired for what he did, scares you to think what the 300 did, huh?
Uh oh .... starting to sound like a conservative .... people taking responsiblity, being held accountable, etc.
C'mon. Does every single thing in life have to be a political game? One upsmanship? My side is better than yours? No wonder most Americans are sick of both political parties. This guy worked for the DoD. He did wrong, got caught, got fired.
All government employees are not bad people and many do useful jobs. They also take a lot of abuse. Let's try, for once, to think before castgating them all like a few bad apples (although, this guy was in a class all his own).
Hey how about that Chevy Volt?
Nobody wants it even with a 10k tax credit. We now know for sure that Obama runs GM. Another failure and they blame the media for it. I guess even they are all tired of blaming bush for failure. Now it's the media. That's rich!
A strange and sad story (the article, not the Volt).
Rob,
Did the guy in Dover bury a Volt, too? Please, realize this article is about the disrespect of the human remains of our military. Play politics later. Please?
Mark,
I just cannot understand people like that. Guess I want to live in a Pollyanna world.
Yup. The Volt is a very discussable subject, but way out of context on this thread. Another time, another place.
"Duh ... he's a federal employee.
All kidding aside ...."
I agree, Robert of Many Numerals. I mean.....
Saaayyyy........ Isn't John Boehner a Federal Employee?
All kidding aside, I meant Eric Cantor.
No, alll kidding aside, I REALLY meant the supreme court justices.
Santorum or Newt or Mitt wants to be one of these 'federal employees'? Gosh, I knew there was something wrong with 'em all!
I hope lots of charges get filed against this SOB. This is ridiculous.
I wasn't real clear on this part, is the guy a civilian contractor or military?
phinephancy,
So far there are three civilians and two military that have quit or been disciplined. And I really like your earlier comment (#1.2). Trying to figure out which of the two parties to support is a lot like trying to figure out how to pick up a dog turd by the clean end.
LOL, denver bill! That's the truth. I have been looking hard, and even signed up, for Americans Elect. If haven't yet, I recommend checking them out!
My comment made to reference to political affiliation. I have no idea what political party this guy belongs to or how he votes - he very well could be a repub.
Gosh, it is not like I said ..... 36 Obama aides owe $833,970 in back taxes.
No he didn't. You didn't see the headline in big red letters...."Dover mortuary supervisor resigns."
This guy did wrong, got caught, lied to investigators, retaliated against 3 whistle blowers and still wasn't fire. Congress (that you hate) started putting pressure on the Pentagon and Air Force to fire this jackass ... it started causing a political problem for a "deeply concerned" Obama so ... he probably might have been possibly fired.
Sheez ... that was the point of my post ... what do you have to do to get fired (if this guy wasn't fired.)
Who said all government employees are bad people?
And all government employees are paid by the American tax payer and make far better wages and benefits than the American tax payer with comparable education, skills, job requirements.
The average salary with a degree is $117,000 ... Heck federal cooks make $66,000 a year plus fantastic benies. What percentage of college educated employees in the private industry bring that scratch home? (And they never get fired?)
The private sector gets hit with 10%-15% unemployment and the federal employees get hit with pay raises and new jobs on the private sector dime?
And all the above is abuse, huh?
Again ... no one castigating them all and it isn't a question of a few bad apples ....
The question is ...... why the hell are federal employees such a protected and priviledged class?
And finally, regarding me turning it into a political game or one upmanship .....
Go back and read your post, then mine.
You will see that it was you that stated the problem was people being rewarded for bad behavior. I merely pointed out how difficult it is, how infrequently federal employees are held accountable, making no mention whatsoever of political parties, Obama, dems vs. repubs ...
It was you in #1.2 that turned it into politics, it was you that brought the political castigating.
From completely missing the headline meaning, to the meaning of my post to who injected the bias ... you missed it all. The liberal mindset is truly amazing.
Sorry you can't see that either.
Bob,
I am not a liberal. I am the curse of both parties - independent. And, I apologize for misunderstanding your post. Thought it really was about politics. Seriously, I am sorry for misunderstanding. As for the rest of your post, I thought I had read somewhere that number of Federal employees had gone down. I don't know about how they are protected, but I do know that a lot are not appreciated. Just my own personal observation.
I hope you are planning a good weekend and don't live in an area where these awful storms are.
What I would like to see is the families confront this idiot on what he did. I just found out on Tuesday that this happened to one of my friends. His widow is freaking pissed, this is freaking sad!!
Phin,
I don't think it really matters what this person is/was.
Paul,
I totally agree. I just hope for once the DOJ or DoD or whoever has the power will prosecute this guy (and others that were involved). I while I am not big on suing folks, I hope the families involved sue the bejeezes (sp?) out of them!
Being married to a vet makes this personal. As, it sounds like, to you. It should be personal to every American.
I would like to see jail time, but that's just me. I've lost some good friends and I'm still very close to my military community since we come from a small field.
Paul,
Yes, we are also close to our military friends. And, being a greedy type, I want both jail AND financial penalities. (I can get mean about stuff like this - and I hate being mean, thus, I get meaner - does that make a weird kind of sense?)
Perfectly good sense. Have a good night, it's movie night with the family.
Good night Paul. Enjoy the movie!
One of My Father-in Laws, not by marraige (long story I'm not going to go into), was GSA for 45+ years before that army. One of the nicest men you would ever know. Do NOT lump all Civil Service employees in with this turd.
Phine, dear friend, you already know where I stand!
Denver Bill, I couldn't agree more! 100% behind you on that one...
Yup, kidding aside (if you call lying kidding) there were around 12,000 terminations. The only reason Bob #s like to crab on and on about Federal workers is because they would never hire someone of his caliber, a habitual liar with a nasty attitude.
One can wonder what the motivation is for someone not to do their job correctly. Is the guy simply lazy, is he crazy, getting money from someone? No matter why it is still despicable.
I am leaning towards crazy and lazy baldeagle. Wonder if they could do a psychiatric profile on him to find out what makes him tick?
Civilian contractor for the military .... kinda says it all.
So, he can be prosecuted under civilian law?
Anyone here seen Tired Old Guy in the last few hours? He lives in the area of these deadly tornados. Keep an eye for him please.
Dumped in a landfill? That's seriously fu*ked up.
Rot,
Something is really, really wrong at the DoD. First all the problems at Arlington Cemetery, now this? Someone needs to take a serious look at what is going on. (Preferably, an outsider, not Congress).
Yes, but that was an issue of misidentified graves and an overall lack of leadership. This on the other hand, is just uncalled for. When I read this story it literally made me sick to my stomach thinking of the events that they went through just to be tossed into a land fill. There is no apology or fix for that kind of blatant disregard for human beings, dead or alive.
The hubby was Navy. This whole thing makes him extremely angry and sick.
I don't know what happened at Dover, or how this kind of incomptence winds up in jobs of such importance, but I do know I encounter more and more of this kind of thing every day in this country. Commplete incompetence.
And God forbid, our president wants more kids to achieve higher education, not less.
Go figger.
DBO,
Remember all the brouhaha about the mix ups at Arlington Cemetery? What is going on at the Dod?
Phine- too many 'elite snobs' getting a higher education would be my guess.
But really, I wish I knew. I really wish I did. Makes you wonder what else we don't know, and never will. And as for Arlington, I don't think it would be wise to blame it on Bush OR Obama- that one seems to have been brewing for waaayyy too long!
I blame the Joint Chiefs for Arlington - not the politicians. As for this guy, again, let's look at the military - not civilian (I think). I cannot imagine ANY CIC would condone this. Someone needs to pay for this - even more than just being fired. Criminal charges should come down over this.