Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 27. maj 2005 / Time Line May 27, 2005
Version 3.005/27/2005
House Passes Bill To Guarantee Funds For Vets' Mental
Care
Philadelphia Inquirer
May 27, 2005
By Richard Cowan, Reuters
WASHINGTON - Mental-health care for U.S. troops returning from
combat in Iraq and Afghanistan would receive guaranteed funding
under legislation approved yesterday by the House.
The initiative, which the Senate must also approve, would require
that the Department of Veterans Affairs spend $2.2 billion on
mental-health care in fiscal year 2006, which begins Oct. 1. It
would be the first time Congress mandated a spending level for such
care. The initiative also would double spending on mental-health
research.
The measure is part of an $85 billion spending bill for veterans
programs and military construction...
05/27/2005
Arlington National Cemetery Gains 70 Acres of Land
By Rudi Williams
American Forces Press Service
ARLINGTON, Va., May 27, 2005 - In 1998, burial space at the
country's most prestigious resting place for servicemembers and
their spouses was becoming scarce, and officials worried they would
run out of room at Arlington National Cemetery in about 25
years.
After years of searching for more space, Defense Department
officials have garnered more than 70 acres of land to expand the
sprawling 600-plus-acre hillside on the west bank of the Potomac
River overlooking the nation's capital.
The fiscal 2000 National Defense Authorization Act contained a
provision expanding the cemetery.
"We estimated that we would run out of grave space between the year
2025 and 2030," said cemetery superintendent John Metzler Jr. "So
one of the things we were directed to do was to develop a new
master plan and to look at not only what we needed to do internally
to maintain the cemetery, but also how we could look at expanding
the cemetery beyond the year of 2025."
Officials searched around the cemetery in all directions to see who
owned the land, what it was currently being used for, and the
likelihood of being able to acquire the land.
"As a result of all this, we've been able to acquire three parcels
of land so far, including the 44-acre Navy Annex that lies to our
south," Metzler noted. "We also acquired a piece of property inside
the cemetery that had belonged to the National Park Service, which
was being used as a buffer zone between the Arlington House and the
cemetery. There was a 24-acre tract, and we were able to acquire
half of that -- 12 acres."
The Arlington House mansion is where Gen. Robert E. Lee lived
before the Civil War. After he joined the Confederacy, the
plantation mansion was confiscated at the outbreak of the Civil War
and converted to headquarters for the Union's Army of the Potomac.
The grounds were used as a burial site for families that were too
poor to claim their deceased loved ones from the battlefield.
Today, the mansion house is restored as a museum, and the grounds
are considered a sacred shrine.
The cemetery also will use a 17-acre tract of land that's now a
picnic area at adjacent Fort Myer, Metzler noted. "We're also
looking at relocating our utilities inside the cemetery from
underneath the grass-tufted area and placing them underneath our
roads," he said.
With these initiatives in place, Metzler said, Arlington would be
able to continue operations until at least 2060, and that would
include development for both ground and columbarium burials.
He pointed out that the cemetery averages 26 burials a day, with
6,452 burials held during fiscal 2004. More than 292,000 people are
buried at Arlington.
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