Gunbattle Near U.S. Marine Hassoun's Lebanon Home

My Way News ^ | 7/8/04 | Reuters

[wagglebee]

TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - A gunbattle erupted Thursday near the family home of a Lebanese-born U.S. Marine who had been missing in Iraq, killing at least two people and wounding several others, witnesses said. Relatives of Wassef Ali Hassoun, who arrived at the U.S. embassy in Beirut Thursday, traded fire with another family who taunted them by referring to the Marine and his family as U.S. agents, said the witnesses.

The gunbattle occurred in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli.

Hassoun, 24, had been missing from his unit since June 21, and at one point was reported on an Internet site to have been killed by militants holding him hostage.

U.S. officials said Hassoun had been picked up in Beirut after making contact and was safe at the embassy. They gave few details.

The northern Lebanon area where Hassoun's family lives is a stronghold of deeply religious Sunni Muslims with strong clan ties. Blood feuds among rival families are not uncommon.

[wagglebee]

It will be very interesting when the real story of what happened with Hassoun comes out.

[Batrachian]

I think this dude deserted, or might actually have been working with the terrorists. There is precedent for this sort of thing. I refer to the muslim soldier who rolled grenades into tents during the war. These people simply cannot be trusted.

[SheLion]

It will be very interesting when the real story of what happened with Hassoun comes out.

Personally, I think he defected.

[arm958]

Relatives of Wassef Ali Hassoun, who arrived at the U.S. embassy in Beirut Thursday, traded fire with another family who taunted them by referring to the Marine and his family as U.S. agents, said the witnesses.

Barbarians.

[ThreePuttinDude]

They should keep an eye on every muslim in the Armed Forces.
How can any be trusted as a brother in arms....

[wagglebee]

There was a lot of criticism in WW II when soldiers of Japanese decent were only allowed to fight in Europe while German-Americans were allowed to fight both places. However, the policy seemed to have worked. The war we are fighting is against religious zealots, members of that religion should not be in combat. Or if they are a very in-depth background test should be done.

[South40]

What a strange story made stranger by the day.

MSNBC just reported Hassoun had cleaned out his locker prior to being "abducted".

Remember "A Few Good Men"?

If you know you're going somewhere you clean out your locker.

The whole story stinks.

[rageaholic]

yeah I smell a rat.

[baltodog]

If he was, in fact, a stoolie, I hope the things he learned/saw in the marines scared the sh*t out of him...

[NeonKnight]

This is freakin' wierd!!

The guy grew up in Lebanon. OK....Joined the US Marines. Huh? Went to Iraq to fight the terrorists. OK....Got abducted by the terrorists and sent to Lebanon. Huh?

[John Jorsett]

It will be very interesting when the real story of what happened with Hassoun comes out.

I suspect it will take Oliver Stone to do it justice.

[wagglebee]

I've been wondering about this one since he was first "abducted".

[wagglebee]

Can't wait to see fatboy Moore's version of this./sarcasm off

[John Jorsett]

Moore hasn't got the guts to take on any Islamists. He likes the spotlight too much to go into hiding like Salman Rushdie.

[Veloxherc]

"TRIPOLI, Lebanon"

Is that right? Is there Tripoli, Lebanon? Or is this journalist (used very loosely, AP ya know) thinking of Tripoli, Libya? Wait I just looked it up, there is a Tripoli, Lebanon.

[wagglebee]

No there really is a Tripoli, Lebanon. I guess the Lebanese wanted to gain favor with Quaddafi.

[BOOTSTICK]

Just saw this "Marines" fiance on the MSNBC Norvell show, 18 yrs old, with Mom along side, both lied through their teeth{ "it doesn't matter what happened, he's alive"}. The Fiance is saying things like : "we were not that close, but he was like a brother to me, we feel so comfortable together", and "well we have not talked since March". Norvell then dropped the bomb that Hassoun was already married, to a woman in Lebanon, to which the guests simply shrugged off,the Mom saying "well we just won't use that"...Very bizzare indeed, clearly Hassoun was using these two women for some purpose, and didn't want to be seen as a tool of the infidel invaders..I say within 72 hours the USMC will announce his arrest.

[The Bandit]

This sounds like what goes on in south phoenix all the time with hispanics.

[Finalapproach29er]

Marine Hymn:"...to the shores of Tri-po-li!"

Marines were there in the 19th century , if memory serves.

Perhaps a Marine can back me up on this?

[pttttt]

I think this dude deserted, or might actually have been working with the terrorists.

Could be. First hand knowledge of Marine training and tactics would be useful for terrorists. The early claim by the Islamists of "infiltrating" the Marine base is troubling. So are the strange clustered casualties being taken by Marine sharpshooter teams.

There is also the possibility that it might have been a fake triple-agent defection to sniff out and target the Islamists, where he seemed to be defecting but was actually still working for us. But that's hard to believe.