Missing Marine Questioned

[TeeYiYi]

Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun at U.S. Embassy in Beirut

July 8, 2004 — A U.S. Marine missing from Iraq for more than two weeks is safe and being questioned at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, ABC News has learned.

Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, 24, of West Jordan, Utah, was picked up with his brothers at an undisclosed location in Lebanon, sources said.

A senior U.S. State Department official confirmed Hassoun was at the embassy, where he would first be given any medical help he might need and then be debriefed.

<snip>

U.S. military officials say they are investigating his disappearance amid suspicions of a possible hoax.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/World/WorldNewsTonight/hassoun_lebanon_040708-1.html

TYY

[Salmo Trutta]

1. I'm not too smart on military affairs, but

it seems to me that the kidnappers may have goofed releasing him (although I am very, very happy that he is safe). He's a trained Marine who can give valuable insight into the operations of this group.

[DulceDecorum]

2. Was he wearing the obligatory orange

when he was found
with his head still firmly attached to his neck?

[Salmo Trutta]

3. It's kind of hard to question a severed head, isn't it?

[Whoa_Nelly]

4. What I question is

what was done behind the scenes to "release" this man, and was more done to save him than any other Americans who have met their fate at the hands of ME fundamentalist groups?

[TeeYiYi]

5. It appears that he called the embassy . . .

A man who identified himself as Hassoun, who was reportedly kidnapped in Iraq three weeks ago, 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,'' MSNBC said.

<snip>

While unidentified military officials won't say the kidnapping was a hoax, they do say Hassoun allegedly talked openly about leaving his Marine unit to join his family in Lebanon. Whether he was kidnapped and released along the way remains a possibility, MSNBC said.

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aHf8hCwDkbB4&refer=us

TYY

[Whoa_Nelly]

6. Since there was footage during his being held

after being kidnapped, I still question :wtf: has come down? However, this is pretty much rhetorical as I highly doubt there will be any news release that tells the truth about this particular incident.

[TeeYiYi]

7. I think the truth will come out eventually . . .

. . . there are too many emotions caught up in this story. The street where his family lives in Utah is LINED with press trucks. I don't think they'll give up until they have their story.

TYY

[TeeYiYi]

11. This 'gunbattle' might be 'what came down' . . .

Meanwhile Thursday, a gunbattle broke out in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli between members of Hassoun's clan and people accusing them of being American collaborators, Lebanese security and hospital officials said.

Two people were killed, but they were not members of the Hassoun clan, which numbers more than 1,000 people, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Journalists had waited all day outside the building where his family has an apartment in the Abu Samra neighborhood, hoping to meet the Marine or his relatives. Members of the Hassoun clan blocked off the street with cars.

The security officials were vague about how the gunbattle began, but they said it had to do with an earlier dispute that was compounded by jeers to the effect that the Hassouns were U.S. collaborators owing to Hassoun's service in the U.S. armed forces.

Tripoli, Lebanon's second-largest city, is a predominantly Sunni Muslim town where anti-American sentiments are popular in some quarters.

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4290156,00.html

TYY

[stickdog]

15. My guess is that this guy figured that he could get away with deserting

by feigning that he got kidnapped and/or killed.

What he didn't realize was that since nobody gets kidnapped without CENTCOM approval, they'd know it was a hoax.

[TeeYiYi]

17. Exactly ! . . .

. . . I'll bet he's finding that out the hard way now! Poor guy.

The FBI was at his family's house yesterday. Not to offer any help or new information . . . but to find out who they were communicating with in Lebanon.

TYY

[Rose Siding]

8. This guy's troubles just started n/t

[TeeYiYi]

9. True that . . .

. . . if his story doesn't pan out, he'll probably end up in Leavenworth. Either way, I'm glad he still has his head.

TYY

[Racenut20]

10. My guess is

A deserter who thought he could hide out in Lebanon that chickened out.

[rocktivity]

12. This is beginning to smell like the Jessica Lynch story

on edit:
U.S. military officials have said Hassoun disappeared June 20 from Iraq on "unauthorized leave," but changed his status to "captured" after he turned up on Arab television blindfolded with a sword hanging over his head.

On Saturday, a statement posted on an Islamist Web site said Hassoun had been beheaded in Iraq. But a day later, another Web statement declared the Marine had not been killed after he promised not to rejoin the U.S. military.

First the military said he was kidnapped, then that he was captured after he'd "wandered" off the base. THEN they suggested that he was trying to desert by hooking up with people he'd heard could get him out of the country. And now I'm supposed to believe he outsmarted his captors by promising not to rejoin? I wouldn't be surprised if the whole thing was just another publicity stunt!

:headbang:
rocknation

[TeeYiYi]

13. But does he remember being raped ? . . .

. . . that's the question. :P

TYY

[stickdog]

14. Q. How do they know his kidnapping was a hoax?

A. They never ordered it.

[rocktivity]

16. Ding Ding Ding! Stickdog, you're our grand prize winner!

This was either a sympathy-grabbing weapon-of-mass-distraction publicity stunt, or some kind of undercover operation, that went sour. His so called capture and release is the hoax.

:headbang:
rocknation