You know who I'm talking about. The muslim guy. They cut off everyone elses head but his. Why? He was rumored to have been awol. A deserter. But we havent heard anything since. What gives?

I think France offered him citizenship

No, seriously, why have we not heard anything in the news about it? Or did I miss it?

He went back to his unit. I guess the story about him being kidnapped and released was true.

He was a Devil Dog?

Yah, that sure did get swept under the rug.

Quoted: You know who I'm talking about. The muslim guy. They cut off everyone elses head but his. Why? He was rumored to have been awol. A deserter. But we havent heard anything since. What gives?

He wasn't a deserter...

He lied to his captors (promising to desert), was released in Lebanon, and went straight for the US Embassy (aka the closest US Marine post, and the last place a Marine deserter would go)...

He was taken to Germany & debriefed...

I believe he's back with his unit again...

What do you expect from a Marine?

Issue Date: September 27, 2004

NCO questioned on mysterious absence

By Laura Bailey
Times staff writer


The Marines Corps may be close to finally revealing the details behind the mysterious case of the Marine corporal who was reported as abducted in Iraq in late June and turned up unharmed in Lebanon three weeks later.

Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun returned to full duty Sept. 14 with the motor pool for the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade (Anti-Terrorism) at Camp Lejeune, N.C., according to a Marine Corps statement.

Hassoun, who worked with the brigade’s motor pool before deploying to Iraq in February, was declared fit for duty Sept. 13 after completing the final phase of his “repatriation” process, according to the statement.

The same week, Naval Criminal Investigative Service officials began interviewing the corporal about his disappearance, said Maj. Matt Morgan, a brigade spokesman.

Service officials had been waiting for Hassoun to complete his repatriation process before interviewing him. As part of the process, Hassoun spent a month of convalescent leave in Utah, where his brother lives.

Officials began a series of interviews with him Sept. 14 and continued throughout the week, Morgan said. The interviews were expected to continue into the week of Sept. 20 but could produce some answers soon.

NCIS already has completed large portions of its investigation and could have the case wrapped up soon after the Hassoun interviews, Morgan said Sept. 14. He said Hassoun was being interviewed as the victim in a missing person’s case, and not interrogated as a guilty party.

The Lebanese-born Hassoun, who has relatives in Lebanon, was classified as being on unauthorized absence after he was reported missing from his post June 20.

One week later, his status was changed to “missing” after he turned up as an apparent hostage in a video aired by the Arab television network al-Jazeera.

The New York Times and other news media quoted military sources saying that, before the video aired, they had suspected Hassoun left his post in an attempt to travel to Lebanon.

Hassoun’s apparent captors reportedly threatened to behead the Marine, but the corporal turned up unscathed July 8 at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, leading some to question whether the abduction was a hoax.

Although Hassoun’s repatriation included a series of intelligence briefings to discuss what happened during the corporal’s disappearance, the Marine Corps has revealed few details of Hassoun’s story.

Hassoun has said little publicly about the incident, apart from a press conference held July 19 to note that he is innocent of deserting his post.

While Hassoun could be charged with desertion, the Corps said it has not changed his recorded status of “captured.”

“There’s not been any conclusion reached,” Morgan said. “We want to wait for the NCIS investigation to complete and see where it goes from there.”


http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-MARINEPAPER-358319.php