Guest MikeSC Report post Posted July 6, 2004 Kidnapped marine 'safe after defecting' to Islamists Gary Younge in New York Tuesday July 6, 2004 The Guardian Kidnapped US marine Wassef Ali Hassoun has been taken to "a place of safety" after he pledged not to return to the US military, his captors told al-Jazeera television in a statement yesterday. The Islamic Response Movement, the same group that last week admitted to kidnapping Corporal Hassoun and threatening to behead him, would not say where he was being kept. It is the latest in a series of conflicting claims about the whereabouts, wellbeing and motivations of Cpl Hassoun, a 24-year-old Arabic translator who has been missing since he failed to report for duty at his base in Iraq. On June 27, al-Jazeera broadcast a video tape by Islamic Response showing Cpl Hassoun blindfolded along with a statement from militants threatening to kill him unless the United States released all Iraqis in "occupation jails". Militants held a curved sword over his head. A few days later the New York Times reported that Cpl Hassoun, who was born in Lebanon and emigrated to the US four years ago, may have deserted the military in Iraq because he was emotionally traumatised and was abducted by his captors while trying to make his way to Lebanon. The New York Times quoted a marine officer in Iraq as saying he believed the captive was betrayed by Iraqis he befriended on his base and ended up in the hands of Islamic extremists. The officer said Cpl Hassoun was shaken up by seeing one of his sergeants blown apart by a mortar bomb. Then, last Saturday, another militant group calling itself Ansar al-Sunna Army posted a note on an Islamic website saying it had killed him, only to post a denial of the killing on Sunday followed yesterday's statement from Islamic Response. "The denial gave us a big relief," Cpl Hassoun's brother, Sami, said by telephone from the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, where he, his father and several other relatives live. The Islamic Response Movement describes itself as the security wing of the National Islamic Resistance - 1920 Revolution Brigades, which takes its name from the uprising against British rule that followed the first world war. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1254982,00.html Well, if the man DID defect, I have little patience for him and could care less if he gets his head lopped off. If he didn't, I hope they can get him back. -=Mike Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest INXS Report post Posted July 6, 2004 I'd defect if it meant I wasn't going to get my head chopped off. There's far more to this story than what meets the eye, i'm sure of it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest MikeSC Report post Posted July 6, 2004 I'd defect if it meant I wasn't going to get my head chopped off. There's far more to this story than what meets the eye, i'm sure of it. He defected BEFORE he got captured. He was trying to go AWOL and return to Lebanon. I have little patience for him if he was captured doing it. Serves him right for being an idiot. -=Mike Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest MikeSC Report post Posted July 8, 2004 Well, this story has hit a VERY interesting snag: By Jim Miklaszewski Correspondent NBC News Updated: 7:52 p.m. ET July 07, 2004The strange disappearance of Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, reportedly kidnapped in Iraq nearly three weeks ago, grows even more mysterious. Senior Pentagon officials tell NBC News, a man claiming to be Hassoun, called his family in Lebanon and the U.S. embassy in Beirut, saying he was — "released by his kidnappers somewhere in Lebanon" and that he was "waiting to be picked up." But in Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell said U.S. officials remain in the dark. "We have received reports that he may be in contact with various individuals and there are other reports that he might be in Lebanon. But we cannot confirm any of these at this time," said Powell. Late Wednesday, FBI agents showed up at the Hassoun family home in West Jordan, Utah. And Pentagon officials tell NBC News that the Navy has now launched a criminal investigation into Hassoun's disappearance, and the possibility that his kidnapping may be part of an elaborate hoax. Few clues since disappearance in June Hassoun disappeared from his Marine unit on June 20. He showed up a week later in a hostage-style video, with a sword held over his head and his alleged captors threatening to kill him. Terrorist experts say, however, the group said to have held Hassoun is unknown. "We don't know whether this group is simply an Internet address. ... We don't know if they were simply fabricated. We have no idea what's going on here," says terrorism expert Steve Emerson. A second group later claimed Hassoun was beheaded — then retracted that claim. Pending the investigation, military officials refuse to say Hassoun's kidnapping was a hoax, but they point out he had reportedly talked openly about leaving his Marine unit to join his family in Lebanon. Whether he was kidnapped and then released along the way remains a mystery. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5387977 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bobobrazil1984 0 Report post Posted July 8, 2004 This is one damned bizarre story. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
