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Marine who went missing in Iraq now on full duty at Camp Lejeune
A Marine who was reported abducted in Iraq and later turned up in his native Lebanon was restored Tuesday to full duty, the military said. Medical authorities at Camp Lejeune, where Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun has been since July, declared him fit for full duty late Monday, allowing him to return to the brigade motor pool where he worked before he deployed to Iraq in February. Hassoun, 24, failed to report for duty June 20, and videotape later surfaced showing him apparently kidnapped, blindfolded with a sword hanging over his head. He later turned up at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. It remains unclear how he traveled from Iraq to Lebanon.More from Roooters: "Medical authorities declared him to be fit for full duty late Monday, allowing Hassoun to return to duty in the brigade motor pool where he worked prior to his deployment to Iraq last February," the Marine Corps said in a statement from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. But Maj. Matt Morgan, a spokesman at Camp Lejeune, said the Naval Criminal Investigative Service was still investigating the circumstances surrounding Hassoun's disappearance and subsequent release. Officials said earlier that the NCIS was looking into whether Hassoun was abducted by militants in Iraq as suggested by a videotape, whether the abduction was a hoax or whether he had deserted. "The NCIS investigation will determine what, if any, criminal action would be taken," Morgan said in a telephone interview. He said investigators were likely to question Hassoun within days.
Posted by: Steve White 2004-09-15 |
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