WAR: Iraq Group Says U.S. Marine Taken to Safety, Family Confirms

An Al-Jazeera television report indicates that a U.S. Marine, Wassef Ali Hassoun, once thought to have been executed, is alive. The story is running on the Reuters news service as well as major U.S. television news outlets.
Hassoun's brother, Sami Hassoun, told reporters that he had received "reliable information" that Wassef has been released in recent hours. He indicated that the family received a "sign" from the missing man, but did not specify what sort of sign this was.

Sky.com


Early reports has said that the insurgent group has freed Hassoun, but those were quickly retracted. This adds to the general confusion surround this situation and the stress on the Hassoun�s family. Conflicting reports have dogged the soldier, his status with the U.S. Marine Corps., details of his capture, and his well-being. The exact nature of this "place of safety" have yet to be defined.

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[edit on 6-7-2004 by Banshee]

[edit on 7-8-2004 by Valhall]

Interesting....

PS What rank is a Lieutenant Corporal?? Never heard of that.. Perhaps you mean Colonel?

Anyway,
I wonder what this means for him, because I doubt the armed forces will let go of him so easily... They'll have to make sure he's not spying or anything for Al-Qaeda affiliates too.

Originally posted by browha
PS What rank is a Lieutenant Corporal?? Never heard of that.. Perhaps you mean Colonel?

I copied it directly from the news source...

In The Netherlands the rank Korporaal exists.

nl.wikipedia.org...
*
o Lagere Onderofficieren
+ Eerste-Sergeant-Chef (Enkel in het Belgisch leger)
+ Eerste-Sergeant
+ Sergeant

* Vrijwilligers
o Keurvrijwilligers
+ Eerste-Korporaal-Chef (Enkel in het Belgisch leger)
+ Korporaal-Chef (Enkel in het Belgisch leger)
+ Korporaal
o Lagere vrijwilligers
+ Eerste-Soldaat (Enkel in het Belgisch leger)
+ Soldaat

It's a low rank, above soldaat (soldier=private?), in the Dutch army.
(Vrijwilligers means volunteers)

Lance Corporal, E-3. enlisted ranks start at E-1, private. He is an enlisted man.

Oh right, you mean Lance Corporal...

No one seems to be mentioning that he seems to have defected, according to some sources.

www.guardian.co.uk...

"Kidnapped marine 'safe after defecting' to Islamists"

This guy definitly went AWOL....if it was any other Marine they would have been beheaded him....Also there is nothing going on right now that the Bush administration has to take focus off of.

From the BBC

news.bbc.co.uk...

A Lebanese-born US marine who was reported to have been beheaded by his kidnappers in Iraq is alive and has been set free, his brother said.

Wassef Ali Hassoun's brother Sami said the family had received word that he had been released early on Tuesday.

Might have defected, huh? This puts a whole new spin on things.

I wodner what this means for the future of other Muslims serving in the military? There have been cases of the Muslim soldiers turning against thier commerades. Quite a few.

I knew a couple of Muslims in the military, and you had the very patriotic ones, but you had a handful who were questionable.

I wodner if a handful of bad Muslims in uniform will create an unpleasant situation for good Muslims?

I hope not, because there are some fine Muslim folks in uniform that dont deserve such.

Originally posted by SoaringFalcon
This guy definitly went AWOL....if it was any other Marine they would have been beheaded him....Also there is nothing going on right now that the Bush administration has to take focus off of.

If he defected, then your right he has more propaganda value than cutting off his head. If this this was all an elaborate CIA op, don't you think they would have cut off the head of a follower of Allah who is also a Marine? ITs prefect if the CIA is doing it. But they did not, so i remain sckeptical

Originally posted by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf

I hope not, because there are some fine Muslim folks in uniform that dont deserve such.

Perfectly true, Skadi. And the same goes for Muslim civilians. Its the fundamentalists (of both sides) who are the troublemakers.

I am very suspicious of this marine getting released. First of all, I understood that because he is a Muslim that he would be looked on more harshly because he is working with the infidels. Then all of a sudden he is released. Is he working with/for the terrorists? Makes you wonder!!
His behavior in the near future is going to be very telling!

The plot thickens, Nothing seems to be confirmed.
From MSNBC

HOAX?