Posted on 01/06/2005 8:09:15 AM PST by Former Military Chick
Relatives in Utah and Lebanon say they have no clue about the location, and mind-set, of Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, the Utah Marine who was charged with deserting his post in Iraq last year and who was again declared a deserter Wednesday.
Hassoun, who spent a week with his family in West Jordan on holiday leave, was to report back for motor pool duty at Camp Lejeune, N.C., by noon Tuesday. By 3 p.m. Wednesday, his whereabouts still unknown, Hassoun's command authorized civil authorities to catch and return him to military control.
Unconfirmed reports placed Hassoun, 24, en route to his native Lebanon by way of Canada. Family members in Utah say Hassoun left Salt Lake City on Dec. 28 on a direct flight to North Carolina. They last heard from him Dec. 29, when Hassoun told them he had been rerouted to Washington, D.C., because of bad weather that snarled holiday traffic.
Hassoun, facing a possible court-martial on counts of desertion and theft, was to appear next week at Camp Lejeune for the military's version of a grand jury on the charges. The judge would decide whether to recommend a court-martial. The theft charges carry a penalty of 10 years in prison and the desertion count five years; if Hassoun were to be convicted of wartime desertion, he could face life in prison.
During his leave, Hassoun seemed "upbeat" and determined to "fight it out," Hassoun family spokesman Tarek Nossier said Wednesday. "He really wanted to stand his ground and prove he was doing his job."
Moments later, Nossier told The Tribune, "If we were deceived, then so be it."
A relative contacted at Hassoun's parents home in Tripoli, Lebanon, said the family had not spoken with Hassoun for a couple weeks. "I thought he was in America," she said. "He was on vacation at his [Utah] house. I don't know anything about it except that."
The first hearing, called an Article 32, convened Dec. 21 but was postponed when Hassoun decided he wanted to hire a civilian lawyer to assist his military attorneys. As of last week, Hassoun had not hired counsel, according to his eldest brother, Mohamad.
It had been expected that a Marine counterintelligence officer would testify that Hassoun worked as a Arabic translator for Human Exploitation Team 9, said Maj. Matt Morgan of Camp Lejeune's Marine 4th Expeditionary Brigade, antiterrorism unit, at the time.
If so, it would clarify Hassoun's role in Iraq, where he has been described as a translator and truck driver. The intelligence unit's job is to blend in with Iraqi citizens and and keep sensitive information about the Marine post from leaking to hostile Iraqis.
Hassoun, a Muslim, could be seen as a natural for such work. He was on his second tour in Iraq when he failed to report for duty at his Marine camp near Fallujah on June 20 and was declared a deserter. His status was changed to captured after an Arab television network aired a video in which Hassoun appeared, blindfolded and with a curved sword held about his head. Reports that he had been executed were followed by others saying he was alive and "in a safe place."
On July 8, Hassoun surfaced in Beirut, Lebanon, 500 miles from Fallujah and, potentially, after a difficult journey through Syria. How he got from Iraq to Lebanon remains a mystery, although after his return to the United States, Hassoun publicly insisted he had been kidnapped and pledged his fidelity to the Marine Corps.
Hassoun returned to his motor pool duties at Camp Lejeune in September. Later that month he terminated his final interview with Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents shortly after being read his rights under military law.
In November, U.S. soldiers reportedly found Hassoun's uniform, military ID and civilian passport in a building in Fallujah, considered a bastion for violent insurgents.
On Dec. 9, Hassoun was charged with desertion and theft of his 9 mm service weapon and a Humvee, but was not taken into custody. Morgan said Hassoun had returned promptly from two earlier, lengthy leaves in Utah and was not considered a flight risk.
CNN, quoting unidentified Marine Corps sources, reported Wednesday that a trail of ATM records and tickets show Hassoun traveled from Utah to Canada, then booked a flight to Lebanon. However, Morgan said Hassoun did not have a passport when he was returned to the United States, and had been issued a temporary document that he surrendered upon his arrival.
Nossier, the family spokesman, said that if Hassoun indeed left the United States, Interpol would find him. A search of the international police organization's Web site showed no listing for Hassoun as a wanted fugitive. Lebanon does not have an extradition treaty with the United States.
Contacted at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, where Hassoun was taken in July, public affairs officer Juliet Wurr said the defense attache had released no information about Hassoun. A spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection said names on the watch list cannot be revealed.
Morgan said the military's information about Hassoun has been entered into the National Crime Information Center.
"When an individual is considered a fugitive or wanted someplace, that would pop up there," he said. "So this is one of the best ways we have getting information out to all law enforcement authorities that he is wanted by the armed services."
Sgt. Rosie Rivera of the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office said the agency had not received any alerts.
Meanwhile, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which has investigated Hassoun since last summer, has opened another investigation to determine his whereabouts.
Several of the Hassoun family's West Jordan neighbors refused to jump to conclusions. Rob Grimstad said he hopes Hassoun didn't desert, but if he did, it would cast a bad light on the Marine.
"I would give [the Hassouns] the benefit of the doubt just because they're really good people," he said.
A man identifying himself as Hassoun's brother, Mazen, said in West Jordan the news Hassoun never arrived at Camp Lejeune "doesn't make sense to us. . . . Of course we're worried."
djensen@sltrib.com --- Tribune reporters Robert Gehrke and Justin Hill contributed to this story.
Time Line: * Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun* Hassoun vanishes from his base near Fallujah, Iraq, on June 20.
* He surfaces in Beirut, Lebanon, on July 8, and is eventually returned to his home base, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
* Hassoun is charged Dec. 9 with desertion and theft of his 9 mm service weapon and a Humvee, as well as loss of government property.
* On Wednesday, the Marine Corps declares Hassoun is a deserter after he failed to return to Camp Lejeune on Tuesday after his holiday leave in West Jordan.
Sure he did.
Agreed. That's why the turd bugged out.
>>During his leave, Hassoun seemed "upbeat" and determined to "fight it out," Hassoun family spokesman Tarek Nossier said Wednesday. "He really wanted to stand his ground and prove he was doing his job."
Sure he did.<<
Yup. . .right up to when he ran like the coward he is.
They are so in cahoots with this it is obvious.
They should have shot him when they had the chance. Desertion, treason AND espionage.
And they must be watched very closely for their complicity.
I thought you might be interested in the other Utah papers coverage of this deserter.
Hey, I am known to see the glass half full rather than half empty. I believe in the process of the law, innocent until proven guilty, but, really it is rare for one to go AWOL or desert let alone have it happen 2 times in one's career it is downright fishy! You can run but you cannot hide from the Marines.
You know, I kind of thought his fellow Marines might have been watching him due to his actions while in Iraq. They do not want this type of Marine serving with them, at least that is what I think, imho.
They're all but thumbing their noses and singing "neener, neener, nee-ner!"
But----but----they are worried. The poor family,this must be really tough on them,a young man in the prime of life going missing.Sad!!!!! (sarcasm off)
I think it's more than reasonable to expect his family had a hand in this. And damn the PC ethics for not suspecting the obvious.
I thought if someone gets arrested for desertion, they're put in something that can contain them, like, oh, say, A CELL!
I'm not far from getting into some serious trouble because of the insanity rolling back and forth, hither, thither and yon these great United States.
Cpl. friggin' raghead traitor is to be found and shot on sight.
The PC crowd has thoroughly frigged up the common sense we, as a naional society, used to be capable of discerning and putting into action.
Shoot the bastard, I say.
You don't even need treason and espionage. On the battlefield, desertion, by itself, is punishable by death.
Islam is as Islam does.........
I am generally against capital punishment, except when it comes to the military, terrorism, and anarchy. Let's not forget this a-hole posed as a soon-to-be-beheaded hostage during the HEIGHT of the terror being suffered by American families with loved ones getting decapitated for real.
Shoot him on sight.
Yes, over the holidays it was announced that he had been charged but was not under arrest. We wondered at the time whether that wasn't rather stupid. Apparently it was. Unless they're following him, which is possible, but sounds rather unlikely, and I'll never know the truth anyway.
Get this... ;-)
"Hassoun family spokesman Tarek Nossier" = ACLU board member
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:EQ8Z0V09c7gJ:www.acluutah.org/events.htm+%22Tarek+Nosseir%22+ACLU&hl=en
(So be it)
According to Rita Cosby (and her secret sources!) this guy's girlfriend's visa expired in the last two weeks. She is from Lebanon...and guess where the latest ATM withdrawal is? Tripoli, Lebanon. She has left the US. Also, he had a Lebanese passport which is how they figure he got into Lebanon. But, of course, his family knows nothing about it.
Where's Col. Jessep when the Corps needs a "Code Red"?
To trust a Muslim in the military (think back to gernades into tents) is a risk to the tenth degree. You can't trust what they tell you. No matter what they say, a Muslim CANNOT fight against another Muslim.
BURN HIM
(after a VERY spirited interrogation)
and do a very wide and far-reaching investigation of his family and associates while we're at it! This kind of crap is EXACTLY what the Patriot Act was sold as necessary for, so lets do it!
Kick his family the hell out.
FYI.
He was a member of a special team, translator, so he knows a lot of stuff that would be useful to the other side. In addition, Syria wants to question him about how he was able to cross their border.
I think he's gonna spend a lot of time in well-lit, public places.
Have a search warrant of the families phone records tie a connection to his desertion and arrest them all on camera and wait till he comes back. They need to be held accountable for this.
Agreed. I will go one step further and say that
muslims in our military can NEVER be trusted.
Further...their (un)holy book instructs them to kill Christians, Jews and all infidels. Does the military actually believe that if the situation warranted it, a muslim is going to kill another muslim to protect a Christian, Jew or infidel?
My guess is that he's up here in Canada, blending in with a gazillion of his brothers.
Yup! Inferior people believing in an inferior cult!
Just part of the Homeland Catch & Release Program? I mean c'mon! He was facing trial on desertion and theft and he still had his Lebanese passport?
Those accused of desertion are put in the brig. I wonder why they dismissed SOP and let him go on leave when it was demonstrated that he would most assuredly try to flee.
As a former JAG, why they gave this idiot coward leave is beyond me. They need to nail him (and the company commander) to the wall.
[sarcasm] If only the 9/11 jihadists had been as "laid back" about life as Hassoun's family is, instead of being the crazy crusaders that they were. [/sarcasm]
Great catch...
They're all lying, including the "spokesman" from the local mosque.
Thanks.
btw, your tagline is intriguing
Well, in theory, anyway. They seem to do quite well at killing one another in the "real world".
Yes, you're right. They are only loyal to other Muslims when they are in the FBI/CIA.
If that is so, how can they be allowed to immigrate?
Ask the same question why we allow Somalians to immigrate, or Saudis or other nationalities with known terrorist ties.
Stupid gov. policy. They immigrate here, infiltrate our military structure and create havoc.
Start with the borders; the rest will follow.
Yes...I have been for stationing the military along the borders for a while now.
The worst thing I heard was a rep from California, on Fox with Brit Hume about 6 months ago. She is hispanic (yes, there is a reason I am stating that).
She said on NATIONAL TV that it wasn't our military's job to secured our borders, that they were needed elsewhere in the world.
I couldn't believe it.
alert, keep an eye our for his Marine who has decide to thumb his nose to his fellow American's. While I bet he is no longer in this country we should all keep a look out.
Perhaps we need to call the Walsh show and ask that he be profiled folks have been found overseas through this progam. He needs to be caught and justice should swift and harsh. PING
For those who would like to read what the other Utah paper is saying go to http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/post?id=1315306%2C1.
This guy had better hope he never falls into U.S. custody. He is SCREWED now. Absolutely no chance of plausible deniability.
Why hasn't the whole damn family been deported and their US citizenship been revoked where appropriate? They're all clearly supporting this cowardly traitor.
What a strange story. I believe he deserted ... I think the potential sentence scared him into exile.
They catch this guy, nevermind UA charges, don't bother with MPs and chasers, just put one between the eyes and toss in the nearest dumpster.
I can dream, can't I? :-(
I don't understand why he wasn't taken into custody.
The implications of his appearing in that hostage video are staggering.
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