May 12^th, 1999

Identification problems

Author is the molecular biologist who work on identification of casualties of this war

     A dryly written official order from the Ministry of Internal affairs, a piece of cloth soaked with blood, a piece of skin from the knee, a piece of skill smashed until it was unrecognizable... On one of our institutes, a search has been continuing, a search for the lost identity of people whose bodies are brought to unrecognizability with the humanitarian NATO bombs. There is no point in talking about the souls. The humanitarian bomb, just as the usual one, sends to the one and only place - to heaven.

     The investigator has a very difficult asignment, both the experimental one and the human one. It is really difficult to isolate enough genetic material from such a small amount of remains. The material is often contaminated, and it is usually imposible to lay hands on relevant comparative material, which must be obtained from the genetically most related individuals - parents or children of deceased. That is the reason why it is more certain that the identity will not than that it will be recognized.

     Than there is another problem - a humane one. The deceased persons' kin hope at least to get the montly allowances the government promised to give to the families of the killed. But there are no monthly allowances for the missing, only for the dead, those officially registered as such. How to judge in such cases? It is difficult for a human to play God, but sometimes you have to.

     Here is an example. It was not certain that the deceased person was the one it was thought it was. The blood groups matched, but that was not enough. There was an argument between the two investigators and the official of MUP Serbia. That there was a still. The MUP official discreetly redraw from the room. Two two investigators looked at each other and then filed a report on identification. "At least they will bury someone and finish the business", mumbled one of the investigators.

Red Baron
age 25, Molecular Biologist