WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Military cremation procedures have been changed after a soldier complained that his buddy's remains were taken to what appeared to be a "pet crematorium," the Pentagon announced Friday.


An honor guard salutes war dead. Respect issues have been raised by the military's choice of crematoriums.

The Pentagon says that the facility had separate incinerators for animals and humans but that the signage and location of the facility in a warehouse district near Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, did not show the appropriate respect due military personnel who have died while serving their country. Full Story

On April 9, Spc. Jon Town was featured on the cover of The Nation, in an article that told how he was wounded in Iraq, won a Purple Heart and was then denied all disability and medical benefits. Town's doctor had concluded that his headaches and hearing loss were not caused by the 107-millimeter rocket that knocked him unconscious but by a psychological condition, "personality disorder," a pre-existing illness for which one cannot collect disability pay or receive medical care.

Soon Town became a national figure, the human face of the 22,500 soldiers discharged with personality disorder in the past six years. His story was picked up by the Army Times, Washington Post Radio and ABC News's Bob Woodruff. It was dramatized in a May episode of NBC's Law & Order. And rock star Dave Matthews began discussing Town's plight at every stop in his spring concert series.

Further investigation by The Nation has uncovered more than a dozen cases like Town's from bases across the country. All of the soldiers interviewed passed the rigorous health screening given recruits before being accepted into the Army. All were deemed physically and psychologically fit in a second screening as well, before being deployed to Iraq, and served honorably there in combat. None of the soldiers interviewed during this eleven-month investigation had a documented history of psychological problems.

Yet after they returned from Iraq wounded and sought treatment, each was diagnosed with a pre-existing personality disorder, then denied benefits. As in Town's case, Army doctors determined that the soldiers' ailments were pre-existing without interviewing friends, family or fellow soldiers who knew them before they were wounded in combat. Full Story

U.S. Rep. John R. Kuhl Jr. does not blindly back President Bush and could change his support for the Iraq war, depending on the findings of a September report, the congressman said Wednesday.

Responding to anti-war protesters who staged a sit-in at Kuhl's district offices in Bath and Fairport on Monday, Kuhl said he remains open-minded about the war but believes U.S. success in Iraq is critical to national security.

Speaking to the Star-Gazette Editorial Board on Wednesday, Kuhl said he reserves judgment on continued U.S. involvement in the region until Iraq forces commander Gen. David Petraeus gives his report to Congress next month on the troop "surge" that was launched late this spring. Full Story

U.S. Rep John R. Randy Kuhl Jr. said he's disappointed with results of a report releasted Thursday that shows Iraq has met less than Half of the U.S.-set bendchmarks for its development.
Sorry, the full story is not available on line.