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Marine 'hostage' to be charged with desertion
I was wondering whatever happened to this guy:A U.S. Marine who disappeared in Iraq and then showed up in a purported hostage video before later appearing as a free man in Lebanon, is being charged with desertion, Pentagon officials said Thursday. Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun will also be charged by the Marine Corps with larceny and wrongful disposition of military property in connection with his service-issued 9 mm handgun that disappeared with him and never turned up, officials said. When Hassoun last spoke with military investigators in September and was read his rights, he refused to divulge details of the events surrounding his disappearance. The 24-year-old from West Jordan, Utah, will not be held in custody, because he is not considered a flight risk, officials said. [...] Um, I wouldn't be too sure about that. Military investigators re-opened the Hassoun case last month after several personal items -- including his military ID and civilian passport -- were found in Falluja, the city from which he disappeared in June. "The circumstances of his alleged capture and subsequent return to military control are still being investigated," the Marines said in a statement. Hassoun reappeared July 7 in Lebanon, where he was born and has relatives. What happened to Hassoun is a mystery to military investigators. After the initial report that Hassoun was missing, military officials assumed he had walked away from camp. He was listed as a deserter. His status was changed to captured after the release of a videotape that showed him blindfolded with a sword suspended above his head. A few days later, a posting to three Islamist Web sites claimed Hassoun had been beheaded. Hassoun denied being a deserter and staging his own kidnapping. [...] Whatever the outcome of the investigation, this dude can't be trusted now. Posted by: Rafael 2004-12-09 |
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