U.S. Confirms Marine Missing for a Week

My Way News ^ | 6/27/04 | AP

[wagglebee]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A U.S. Marine has been missing from his unit in Iraq for nearly a week but it is unclear whether the man has been taken hostage, the U.S. command said Monday.

The announcement was made after Al-Jazeera television broadcast a videotape purportedly of a Marine taken hostage by a militant group which threatened to kill him if the U.S. military did not release all prisoners in Iraq.

The tape showed a blindfolded, mustached man wearing a blindfold and displayed a Marine identification card in the name of Wassef Ali Hassoun. Al-Jazeera said he was of Pakistani origin.

In the statement, the military said a corporal by that name had been missing from his unit in the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force since June 21. The statement said Hassoun was of Lebanese descent.

"Contrary to press reports, however, Naval Criminal Investigative Services cannot confirm that Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun has been taken hostage," the statement said. Various press reports the morning of June 28 stated that Hassoun, who is of Lebanese decent, had been taken hostage.

[wagglebee]

"Contrary to press reports, however, Naval Criminal Investigative Services cannot confirm that Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun has been taken hostage,"

Well then what in the hell are the jihadists showing on TV. You guys need to get your sh!t together!

[ambrose]

That doesn't mean he was taken "hostage"...

[gilliam]

wierd

[wagglebee]

It means they've known for a week he was MIA, what have they been doing about it? Why do we need to find out our men are taken hostage from AlJihadist TV?

[thoughtomator]

He may have willingly trusted them, and gotten betrayed. I don't put anything past the moo slimes.

[hole_n_one]

From Al Jazeera.net.....

From Al Jazeera.net.....

[nhoward14]

Technically, if he is captured and then immediately executed, he is never taken hostage.

[vetvetdoug]

I hope the Marines have been looking for this fellow Marine hard on their own before letting the press have at it. Once the gig was up, the Shiite heads were going to do a Moore publicity stunt.

[wagglebee]

Right, so why is Naval Intelligence saying they cannot confirm any of this? It seems weird that this story is released several hours after the original story broke. And why did DoD sit on this for a week?

[New Perspective]

This is sickening.

[Imperialist]

Could he be another AQ sympathyzer, like Berg and Johnsosn, that is being taken for a propaganda ride to his death? From what I understand he left his unit to meet with someone and got abducted. Something doesn't semm right here, no offense to the US Marines either.

[Casloy]

Not necessarily a hostage. This whole thing smells funny.

[I still care]

He sounds like a muslim. Obviously killing muslims is not a problem for these murderers, but I don't think killing a muslim hostage is what they want.

[saquin]

In the statement, the military said a corporal by that name had been missing from his unit in the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force since June 21.

June 21 is when the 4-man Marine sniper team on a Ramadi rooftop were discovered and seemingly executed. The one's whose pictures were shown by Reuters.

[aequitas]

Are you saying Berg and Johnson sympathized with al Qaida and were then killed?

Their widows and other patriots might disagree.

[ambrose]

You expect the military to issue a press release every time someone goes AWOL and/or MIA?

[ChefKeith]

Defector?

[rickyc]

What are the black diamonds on his sleeves about?

[gilliam]

does anyone have a link to the pictures?

[oceanview]

not Johnson, no way, I saw no credible evidence of that. Regarding Berg, I agree that there are some aspects of that story that are still weird, but that does not explain away what the terrorists did to him.