US marine. ''I did not desert my post"

[lew]

U.S. Marine who disappeared in Iraq says he did not desert and that ''Once a Marine, always a Marine''

By Matthew Barakat, Associated Press, 7/20/2004 10:38

QUANTICO, Va. (AP) The U.S. Marine who was once feared beheaded by Iraqi insurgents after disappearing from his unit has stepped forward to deny he was ever a deserter, insisting that ''Once a Marine, always a Marine.''

Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun has been under a cloud of suspicion since failing to report for duty June 20. Videotaped images later surfaced showing him apparently kidnapped; he emerged unharmed in Lebanon on July 8 and was brought back to the United States last week.

''I did not desert my post,'' Hassoun told reporters outside Quantico Marine Corps Base on Monday. ''I was captured and held against my will by anti-coalition forces for 19 days. This was a very difficult and challenging time for me.''

Hassoun, 24, of West Jordan, Utah, disappeared from his base near the troubled Iraqi city of Fallujah and later turned up at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. It remains unclear how he traveled from Iraq to Lebanon, where he was born and still has some relatives.

On June 27, Arab television showed a videotape of a blindfolded Hassoun, a sword hanging over his head. At one point during his disappearance, a group claiming to represent his captors announced that he had been beheaded after being lured from the base by a love affair.

Hassoun did not answer any questions during his brief appearance Monday. He is in the midst of what the Marines call a ''repatriation process'' in which he is debriefed and given time to decompress and avoid the media spotlight, officials said.

''I would like to tell all the Marines as well as all those others serving in Iraq to keep their heads up and spirits high. Once a Marine, always a Marine, Semper Fi,'' Hassoun said, invoking the Marine Corps motto, Latin for ''always faithful.''

Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Dave Lapan said the Marine Corps was not in a position to confirm or deny Hassoun's kidnapping claim.

Hassoun arrived at Quantico on Friday after six days of medical evaluation at a military hospital in Germany. Capt. Jeff Landis, a Marine Corps spokesman at Quantico, said Hassoun was expected to be transported to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina by van on Tuesday. He will continue the repatriation process there, Lapan said.

Marine officials said it may be weeks or months before Hassoun returns to active duty.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is not expected to question Hassoun until his repatriation is completed, the Marine Corps said. The Marines are a separate service within the Department of the Navy.

When Hassoun first disappeared, the Marines said he was on ''unauthorized leave'' but changed his status to ''captured'' after the videotape of him blindfolded surfaced a week later.

Some reports have said Hassoun fled his camp after seeing one of his colleagues killed by a mortar shell; others indicated he was lured out and captured. Another version of events says he was freed after promising the insurgents not to rejoin his unit in Iraq.

It was unclear how Hassoun left Iraq and how he made contact with American officials in Lebanon. An embassy spokeswoman in Beirut, Elizabeth Wharton, said the Marine arrived at the fortified embassy, located in a hilly suburb, accompanied by relatives.

Hassoun, a Muslim, is fluent in Arabic, French and English. He was educated at American schools in his native Lebanon before moving to the Salt Lake City area. He was serving his second stint in Iraq as a translator.

Militant groups in Iraq have captured and threatened to behead foreign Muslim hostages, creating an uproar among many Muslims, including other militants. All captured Muslims have so far been released unharmed.

Hassoun's father, Ali Hassoun, who lives in Tripoli, Lebanon, repeatedly pleaded for his son's release. He and his other sons contacted politicians and Muslim clerics in Lebanon and Islamist groups in Iraq in hopes of securing the Marine's release.

And heres the link to the article.

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/202/nat ... in_:.shtml

lew

[Whitey]

Who knows? Marines like the drug Larium for Malaria. Any of you ever take it? I know from experience it messes with your mind, blank memories appear .
Maybe he just blanked out and took a walk and got picked up? Larium though also tends to make you extra violent when you are in your daze, so who knows? NIS will find out.

Maybe he is the Manchurian Candidate?

[Frank S.]

Prior to his 'leaving' and subsequent abduction, he'd apparently made comments about wanting to get the f... out of there. The AO, the country...
He'd also reportedly withdrawn a few hundred bucks from his account and borrowed money from fellow Marines.
These allegations were what made the Corps suspect he was in fact deserting. So it could be a case of real bad luck: maybe he did try to desert, then got abducted. But the story of how he got to Lebanon (through Syria) is very, very strange.

Let's wait for the made-for-TV movie with Nicholas Turturro in the lead...

[Whitey]

Yeah I know Frank I've run through every senario. If I'd hauled ass from the Corps, I wouldn't have gone back. I'd rather get my head cut off than return to the USMC as a deserter.
He tripped out they said after seeing some dead bodies, who knows?
Some folks just can't deal with it. Maybe he is a spy?
Who knows? It will be Jessica Lynch handled I'm sure. We can't handle the truth.

[Redhand]

Ya what was with that lynch chick by the way?? Didn't she practically do nothing in reality and yet the US media made her out to be some kind of Rambette??

[snyder]

Ya what was with that lynch chick by the way?? Didn't she practically do nothing in reality and yet the US media made her out to be some kind of Rambette??

That whole thing was an attempt by the White House to create an instant hero for propaganda purposes. There was only one problem that they failed to consider, which is that the Rambette in question wasn't a greedhead like the politicos who were going to spin a false tale with her as the star. I have to give her a lot of credit. She passed up some very big bucks to tell the truth about what happened. How many people would pass up the chance to become a multimillionaire? All she had to do was shut up and say she didn't remember anything, and the money would have poured into her bank account. Someone, somewhere ought to be giving her an integrity award.

[Sticky Blue]

somewhere ought to be giving her an integrity award

That would have to come from the Military because politicians don't know what integrity is
Who could have blamed her if she did milk it, I would have because it would make life easier and let's face it, what is an ex squaddie going to do to make that sort of money?

[Whitey]

Well I hear from my intel shop (Friends) old Sgt. Akbar of the 101st who attacked his own unit in Kuwait might walk due to the fact he was questioned before his rights were read.
The USMC on this Arab Jarhead who deserted is going to let him fade out.
And Donald Walters the lone NCO and cook for that matter who fought the Iraqi's intil shot and stabbed and executed 2 days later is all but forgotten.
Had Walters been an Arab American female we'd be drinking coke with his picture on the can, Lee Greenwood would have made a song and the flags would still be half mast and the MOH wouldn't be good enough.

[ELP]

That whole thing was an attempt by the White House to create an instant hero for propaganda purposes. .

Yup... keep pushing your Dem party leftist lap dog BS. Some here probably even are gullable enough to buy into it.

[ELP]

Well I hear from my intel shop (Friends) old Sgt. Akbar of the 101st who attacked his own unit in Kuwait might walk due to the fact he was questioned before his rights were read.
The USMC on this Arab Jarhead who deserted is going to let him fade out.
And Donald Walters the lone NCO and cook for that matter who fought the Iraqi's intil shot and stabbed and executed 2 days later is all but forgotten.
Had Walters been an Arab American female we'd be drinking coke with his picture on the can, Lee Greenwood would have made a song and the flags would still be half mast and the MOH wouldn't be good enough.

Need to remove all the fifth column types from the military now. Least they think its OK to take a vacation in a terrorist hive like Lebanon or take a nade and frag somebody on their own team.

[Whitey]

If tomorrow all the things were gone,
I’d worked for all my life.
And I had to start again,
with just my illigitiment children and my neighbor's wife.

I’d look up and cuss the stars,
and be moving out of here today.
‘Cause the flag still stands for corporate America,
and Jerry Springer won't take that away.

And I’m proud to be a consumer,
where at least I know I've got a low interrest credit limit.
And I'll forget the men who died,
and watch some reality TV.

And I gladly sit in my lazyboy,
next to you and armchair general still today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I'm addicted to this lifestyle,
Supreme Justices bless Corporate USA.

From the dried up lakes of Minnesota,
to the exploited coal hills of Tennessee.
Across the chemical waste plains of Texas,
From sea to polluted sea.

From Ghetto Detroit down to Barrio Houston,
and filthy New York to gang member L.A.
Well there's greed in every American heart,
and its time we stand and say.

That I’m glad to be a Springer fan,
where at least I know I can shop.
And I wish forget the men who died,
maybe I can if I watch TV .

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and donate a dollar to ease my conscience today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love making money in this land,
Investors bless Corporate USA.

And I’m proud to be over weight and ignorant,
where at least I used to be free.
And I wont forget Jessica Lynch ,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
and sit back down again as soon as the TV show returns.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love fast food,
Chain restuarantsl bless the USA.

Code: Select all

Is that how it goes? Couldn't remember? :lol:  :drinking:
Listening to people I think those lyrics best suit them.
Good song as it was when it meant something though.
Dime store patriots urk me.  :lol: 

[snyder]

Buck up, Whitey, it's that bad but it's not that bad.

[ELP]

Hey Whitey, I thought you did a different version of that which sounded a bit better.