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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Missing Marine at U.S. Embassy in Beirut |
| 2004-07-08 |
| Now what happens? A U.S. Marine who was reported missing in Iraq more than two weeks ago is alive and at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, where American officials are meeting with him, authorities said Thursday. Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun is safe and appears to be in good health, said a Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity. In making the announcement about Hassoun, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington: "We were able to go get him." When reached at his West Jordan, Utah, home Thursday morning, Hassoun’s brother, Mohamad, said he had no comment. Contradictory reports have surrounded the fate of the 24-year-old Lebanese native since his disappearance June 20. On Saturday, a statement posted on a Web site known for extremist Muslim comment said Hassoun had been beheaded. A day later, another Web statement declared he had not been killed. An Iraqi militant group said Monday it was holding him in a safe place but hadn’t killed him. Al-Jazeera television broadcast the statement from "Islamic Response," which claimed responsibility June 27 for Hassoun’s kidnapping. |
| Posted by:Sherry |
| #20 CBS tonight, on a "very special" Navy:NCIS.... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-07-08 9:29:42 PM |
| #19 This whole is sounds like a massive con job. |
| Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-07-08 8:55:21 PM |
| #18 NBC news reported that his brother, who is a truck driver, drove him out of Iraq to Lebanon. |
| Posted by: TS(vice girl) 2004-07-08 8:36:24 PM |
| #17 AllahHateMe - What part of This should be fully investigated was unclear to you? If you cannot understand what is written, or do not bother to read comments to completion, why don't you yourself STFU? There have been rumors of his desertion in the media going back for days, I hardly made them up on my own. |
| Posted by: Laurence of the Rats 2004-07-08 8:24:18 PM |
| #16 this one's going to be very interesting. Personally, I've always had a hunch that he was trying to desert. However, it will be interesting to hear what the rest of his squad would say about him. I bet any money the Marines at his base camp know the deal. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2004-07-08 8:17:40 PM |
| #15 Tibor it may have been an honest disagreement over lawn maintenance. /ima can fly! |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-07-08 5:41:28 PM |
| #14 The oddest thing is that Hassoun's family in Lebanon apparently engaged in a gun battle with a neighboring family who accused them of being American agents. (I think this was in the cnn.com account.) No Hassoun's were injured, but there were 2 people killed and 1 wounded. This just gets curiouser and curiouser. |
| Posted by: Tibor 2004-07-08 4:31:46 PM |
| #13 Who said amything about not letting them handle it? |
| Posted by: jules 187 2004-07-08 3:58:10 PM |
| #12 Regardless of motive.... it should be noted that he turned up at the US Embassy. I had an Uncle (yep) who went missing from the PineApple Div. before the war (the big one, WWII) and turned himself in after Dec.7th. Guardhouse, bust, noted on record. Sent to a rifle company when the division was deployed to the SW Pacific. And yes it does sound like someting out of From Here To Enternity. LC ended up a 4 sripe again. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-07-08 3:52:58 PM |
| #11 i for one, am a non-military folk whos more than happy to let the USMC handle this one. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-07-08 3:51:13 PM |
| #10 AllahHateMe-Decide whether you want non-military folks on the military's side or not. If you don't want us with you, it's going to be awful lonely out there-no friends, no allies, no loyal supporters. |
| Posted by: jules 187 2004-07-08 3:49:49 PM |
| #9 Book deal, coming right up. |
| Posted by: Chris W. 2004-07-08 3:48:03 PM |
| #8 Until then, STFU. Who above, pray tell, is making clear and direct accusations? |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-07-08 3:37:32 PM |
| #7 Easy to talk tough about this guy while your fat ass is sitting behind a computer, eh? Try having a terrorist with a big fucking knife at your throat telling you he's going to cut off your head. Once you've done that, then you can talk all you want about this guy. Until then, STFU. None of us know the truth of what happened and unless God comes down and tells us, we never will. I trust the Marine Corps to take care of this appropriately. |
| Posted by: AllahHateMe 2004-07-08 3:14:31 PM |
| #6 Hope "the Marines will deal with it" is code language for kick the shit out of him and leave him a wet puddle. The last I heard, this man swore to terrorist scum that he would not perform work for the US Marines any more. Shock from what he saw while there I can understand; betrayal of country I cannot. |
| Posted by: jules 187 2004-07-08 2:56:24 PM |
| #5 This is a family matter. The Marines will deal with it. |
| Posted by: Dragon Fly 2004-07-08 2:33:14 PM |
| #4 i dont think we've executed a deserter since WW2. And in WW2 we only executed one, a particularly egregious case who deserted multiple times, IIRC. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-07-08 2:25:36 PM |
| #3 If he took off on his own, as Fox News was speculating this morning, then that's desertion from a combat zone. This should be fully investigated, because if he's guilty of that then he should be shot. Whatever the case, there is a lot of explaining to do on why he ended up two countries away. |
| Posted by: Laurence of the Rats 2004-07-08 2:15:50 PM |
| #2 Well, at least he's got his head. What ever he may or may not have done he did not deserve to be executed by those jhidi animals. He and the Corps can take care of business. We don't need to be involved. |
| Posted by: Michael 2004-07-08 1:56:31 PM |
| #1 erh, someone asks him where hes been? |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-07-08 1:53:22 PM |