Re:Missing Marine Threatened, US Cautious

Date: June 28, 2004

" Thugs threaten to slay Marine

'A number of factors indicated he deserted back on 21 June.'

BY TAMER EL-GHOBASHY and JAMES GORDON MEEK
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

TV image from Al Jazeera shows ID (below) and blindfolded Marine Wassef Ali Hassoun, whom Iraqi insurgents claim they seized.

Iraqi insurgents claimed yesterday to have captured a U.S. Marine and threatened to behead the blindfolded soldier unless Americans open the prisons in Iraq.

The terrorists said they tricked Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun into leaving the Marine base outside Fallujah and then snatched him. But the military said that Hassoun, who is of Lebanese descent, has been missing from his post since June 21 and would not confirm he is a hostage.

"Cpl. Hassoun is listed as missing. He is believed to be in an unauthorized absence status. We cannot confirm his abduction," said Cpl. Anthony Pike, a military spokesman in Baghdad.

The camouflage-clad leatherneck was shown sitting in a chair with a white blindfold over his eyes in a grainy video aired by Arab satellite TV channel Al Jazeera.

Behind him could be seen the raised hand of a terrorist wielding a long sword as an extortionist's voice demanded the release of Iraqi prisoners in exchange for the Marine's life.

The video taken by insurgent fighters showed a photo ID card that identified the mustached serviceman as Hassoun.

Hassoun, 24, is a devout Muslim who joined his family in the suburbs of Salt Lake City shortly before 9/11. His neighbors in Utah said he was so affected by the terror attacks that he enlisted in the Marines.

The family last night asked people to pray for his release.

"In the name of Allah, the merciful, the compassionate, we accept destiny with its good and its bad," Hassoun family friend and spokesman Tarek Nosseir said outside the family's home. "We pray and we plead for his safe release and we ask all people of the world to join us in our prayers. May God bless us all."

On the tape, the abductors said they snatched Hassoun after "infiltrating a U.S. military base in Iraq" and tricking him into leaving the base.

But military sources are being cautious.

A Pentagon official told the Daily News, "A number of factors indicated he deserted back on 21 June. It looked like he intentionally left."

The official said Hassoun's wife and family were believed to be in Lebanon.

Iqbal Hossain, the chairman of the Khadeeja Islamic Center, was indignant over the suggestion that Hassoun may have deserted.

"The family is trying to deal with this very serious situation, and to attach that stigma that he's a deserter is very difficult on them," Hossain said. "I'd be very careful before making a judgment like that."

Hassoun is the latest hostage in the Persian Gulf region to be threatened with beheading.

Arab TV also aired video of a Pakistani man abducted north of Baghdad.

The hostage was an employee of Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton. Four masked thugs cradling assault rifles threatened to decapitate him within three days unless detainees at Abu Ghraib prison and three cities are freed.

Three Turks are also under a death threat by terrorists possibly linked to Jordanian extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

With Rita Sharshiner in West Jordan, Utah

© 2004 Daily News, L.P."

AND

"Military: Kidnapped Marine May Have Been Going To Lebanon

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- There are more details from U.S. commanders on a Marine who was apparently kidnapped in Iraq.

A videotape shown on Arab TV features a man believed to be Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun. Insurgents are threatening to behead the hostage if the U.S. military does not release all prisoners in Iraq.

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said the military is working under the assumption that the Marine has been kidnapped -- but he indicates that hasn't been confirmed.

Kimmitt said the Marine had gone on an "unauthorized absence" around June 21 -- and that officials suspect he may have been heading to Lebanon. The general didn't give more details.

The Marine is a Muslim of Middle Eastern origin.

Ali Hassoun began an anguished wait as images surfaced from across the world showing him being held by Iraqi captors and threatened with decapitation.

Ali Hassoun's relatives in Utah issued a brief statement late Sunday confirming that the Marine was the same soldier shown blindfolded with a sword held over his head.

"In the name of Allah, the merciful, the compassionate, we accept destiny with its good and its bad," Ali Hassoun family friend and spokesman Tarek Nosseir said outside the family's home. "We pray and we plead for his safe release and we ask all people of the world to join us in our prayers. May God bless us all."

Iraqi militants showed the identity card of kidnapped U.S. Marine Wassef Ali Hassoun.

Arab satellite television network Al-Jazeera broadcast the videotape from a militant group threatening to behead Hassoun if the U.S. military did not release all prisoners in Iraq.

The tape displayed a Marine identification card in the name of Wassef Ali Hassoun. The U.S. military said a corporal by that name had been missing from his unit in the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force since June 21.

Some of Ali Hassoun's relatives, including his father, Ali Hassoun, and a brother, Sami, are in Tripoli, Lebanon. The relatives said contacts were under way with politicians and Muslim clerics in Lebanon and Islamic groups in Iraq to secure the Marine's release.

"We are trying to send word through all channels that he is Lebanese, Arab and a Muslim," Abdullah Hassoun, another member of the extended family and the head of Al-Safira municipality in Lebanon, told The Associated Press.

Judy Hassoun, Wassef Ali Hassoun's former sister-in-law, said by telephone from Bacliff, Texas, that Ali Hassoun is serving his second stint in Iraq. She hadn't known he was missing and had not seen him in about five years.

She said he was born in Tripoli, educated at American schools in Lebanon and is fluent in Arabic and French. "He is a great student," she said. He is "very peaceful, but very brave, very loving."

Judy Hassoun said the Marine, one of six children, studied hard and "always wanted to get good grades. He helped everybody. He helped his mother a lot." She said her former husband, Mohammad Hassoun, is the oldest of the six siblings and sent money to Lebanon to help with the younger children.

She said her former brother-in-law joined the Marines after moving to the Salt Lake City area. Her relatives, including her ex-husband, live in an upscale subdivision in West Jordan, a Salt Lake City suburb.

Utah residents extended their prayers and best wishes.

"We are very sorry for what happened," said Ali Mohammed, 46, while taking a break from tidying up after evening prayers at Al-Noor Mosque in Salt Lake City, where the Marine worships when he is home.

West Jordan Mayor Bryan Holladay said the thoughts of all residents were with the Ali Hassoun family. "He's one of our Marines," Holladay said. "We're proud of the work he's doing, but we're hoping he comes home safely."

Police Capt. Gary Cox briefly visited the home Monday.

"The family's doing OK," he said. "Again, their obvious concern is for their relative and their privacy. They're concerned about all this attention, which is really not wanted."

The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Pendleton in California's San Diego County, is a 25,000-man force. It includes about 19,000 Marines from Camp Pendleton and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. Troops from Camp Lejeune, N.C. and Marine Forces Reserve in New Orleans round out the force -- one of three division-sized Marine units.

©2004 by The Associated Press"