Hassouns lose chance for $1 million

The brother of a Utah Marine twice accused of desertion said he and his brother were in the middle of negotiating a $1 million book deal and movie rights up until Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun disappeared over the holidays.

Mohamad Hassoun told the Deseret Morning News that his brother's second disappearance in the face of pending desertion and theft charges has soured any interest in selling the missing Marine's personal story. "There are no current negotiations right now," Mohamad Hassoun said Thursday from his home in West Jordan. Facing charges stemming from his disappearance from a Marine camp in Iraq last summer, Hassoun was allowed holiday leave from Camp LeJeune, N.C., to visit his family in Utah. Family members confirmed that Hassoun arrived in Utah and visited over Christmas and had assumed he was on his way back to Camp LeJeune when he called them on Dec. 19, saying he was in Washington, D.C. However, news sources have quoted Pentagon officials who said they traced Hassoun's credit card transactions, showing he booked travel to Canada and then on to Lebanon. Marines officially listed Hassoun a deserter for a second time on Jan. 5, saying he failed to report for duty on Jan. 4. There is currently a nationwide warrant for his arrest. The 24-year-old Marine was scheduled to appear at a military pre-trial court hearing at Camp LeJeune last week, after which it would be decided if he would face court-martial. If convicted, Hassoun faced a maximum penalty of life incarceration. Since his second disappearance, Mohamad Hassoun said neither his family in Utah nor family members in the family's home town of Tripoli, Lebanon, have heard from Hassoun. "We are worried for his safety. We pray, that's all we can do for him," Mohamad Hassoun said. Mohamad Hassoun began negotiating with the Los Angeles public relations firm Sands Digital Media in August, just weeks after the Marine was returned to the United States, said the firm's owner, Michael Sands.

No contract was ever signed, and negotiations have broken off. "Everything is off the table after what happened to my brother," Mohamad Hassoun said. "He would have to tell his story, and I don't know his story." Sands also said a $1 million fee is unlikely, mainly because whatever sympathy factor there may have been for Wassef Hassoun is gone with the second desertion. "I asked him what he wanted, and he said a million dollars," Sands said. "A million dollars? This is not Jessica Lynch." Lynch, an Army supply clerk, was rescued in a commando raid 20 days after her convoy took a wrong turn and was ambushed in Nasiriyah, Iraq, in March 2003. Nine soldiers from Lynch's unit and two others traveling with them were killed. "Jessica Lynch got a million," Sands said, but "there was proof she got captured." Hassoun, whose main duty was a truck driver, was asked to be an Arabic translator for an undercover Marine intelligence operation while in Iraq. He was reported missing June 20. Investigators later reported Hassoun had stolen a Humvee vehicle at the time. On June 27, the Al-Jazeera Arabic news network broadcast a grainy video, showing Hassoun blindfolded with a sword held above his head. Marines declared Hassoun captured but later changed his status to deserted. On July 8, Hassoun showed up in Beirut, Lebanon — hundreds of miles away from Iraq — where he contacted the U.S. Embassy there. In the following weeks, Hassoun underwent a repatriation process in Germany and was returned to Camp LeJeune, after which he was allowed leave to spend time with his family in Utah. In his only two public statements, Hassoun has maintained that he was captured in Iraq and stressed his loyalty to the U.S. Marine Corps. "We had been aware there had been discussions of a book and a movie," said Marine spokesman Maj. Matthew Morgan. Just after Hassoun's return to the United States, Morgan said numerous publicists were beating down the doors to get the Hassoun story. "There were numerous folks with agencies attempting to get in touch with Wassef and his family members," Morgan said. Morgan said he could not say if the Marines knew where Hassoun was, but added the Marines will continue to list Hassoun as deserted. Sands said he would only reopen negotiations on a book deal if the military were to drop all charges against Hassoun. "I think he should give himself up and come back and tell us the real story," Sands said. Mohamad Hassoun said there is still a chance that there may be a book through another deal. He said his brother wanted to "get his story out." When asked what information, or message, that Hassoun wanted to get out, Mohamad Hassoun said, "You would have to read the book."

HTML Campfire

Deseret Morning News, Friday, January 21, 2005

Hassouns lose chance for $1 million

By Geoffrey Fattah
Deseret Morning News

Wassef Ali Hassoun

"There are no current negotiations right now," Mohamad Hassoun said Thursday from his home in West Jordan.

Facing charges stemming from his disappearance from a Marine camp in Iraq last summer, Hassoun was allowed holiday leave from Camp LeJeune, N.C., to visit his family in Utah. Family members confirmed that Hassoun arrived in Utah and visited over Christmas and had assumed he was on his way back to Camp LeJeune when he called them on Dec. 19, saying he was in Washington, D.C.

However, news sources have quoted Pentagon officials who said they traced Hassoun's credit card transactions, showing he booked travel to Canada and then on to Lebanon. Marines officially listed Hassoun a deserter for a second time on Jan. 5, saying he failed to report for duty on Jan. 4. There is currently a nationwide warrant for his arrest.

The 24-year-old Marine was scheduled to appear at a military pre-trial court hearing at Camp LeJeune last week, after which it would be decided if he would face court-martial. If convicted, Hassoun faced a maximum penalty of life incarceration.

Since his second disappearance, Mohamad Hassoun said neither his family in Utah nor family members in the family's home town of Tripoli, Lebanon, have heard from Hassoun.

"We are worried for his safety. We pray, that's all we can do for him," Mohamad Hassoun said.

Mohamad Hassoun began negotiating with the Los Angeles public relations firm Sands Digital Media in August, just weeks after the Marine was returned to the United States, said the firm's owner, Michael Sands.

No contract was ever signed, and negotiations have broken off.

"Everything is off the table after what happened to my brother," Mohamad Hassoun said. "He would have to tell his story, and I don't know his story."

Sands also said a $1 million fee is unlikely, mainly because whatever sympathy factor there may have been for Wassef Hassoun is gone with the second desertion.

"I asked him what he wanted, and he said a million dollars," Sands said. "A million dollars? This is not Jessica Lynch."

Lynch, an Army supply clerk, was rescued in a commando raid 20 days after her convoy took a wrong turn and was ambushed in Nasiriyah, Iraq, in March 2003. Nine soldiers from Lynch's unit and two others traveling with them were killed.

"Jessica Lynch got a million," Sands said, but "there was proof she got captured."

Hassoun, whose main duty was a truck driver, was asked to be an Arabic translator for an undercover Marine intelligence operation while in Iraq. He was reported missing June 20. Investigators later reported Hassoun had stolen a Humvee vehicle at the time.

On June 27, the Al-Jazeera Arabic news network broadcast a grainy video, showing Hassoun blindfolded with a sword held above his head. Marines declared Hassoun captured but later changed his status to deserted. On July 8, Hassoun showed up in Beirut, Lebanon — hundreds of miles away from Iraq — where he contacted the U.S. Embassy there.

In the following weeks, Hassoun underwent a repatriation process in Germany and was returned to Camp LeJeune, after which he was allowed leave to spend time with his family in Utah.

In his only two public statements, Hassoun has maintained that he was captured in Iraq and stressed his loyalty to the U.S. Marine Corps.

"We had been aware there had been discussions of a book and a movie," said Marine spokesman Maj. Matthew Morgan.

Just after Hassoun's return to the United States, Morgan said numerous publicists were beating down the doors to get the Hassoun story. "There were numerous folks with agencies attempting to get in touch with Wassef and his family members," Morgan said.

Morgan said he could not say if the Marines knew where Hassoun was, but added the Marines will continue to list Hassoun as deserted.

Sands said he would only reopen negotiations on a book deal if the military were to drop all charges against Hassoun. "I think he should give himself up and come back and tell us the real story," Sands said.

Mohamad Hassoun said there is still a chance that there may be a book through another deal. He said his brother wanted to "get his story out." When asked what information, or message, that Hassoun wanted to get out, Mohamad Hassoun said, "You would have to read the book."

Contributing: Associated Press

E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.