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Kidnapped marine 'safe after defecting' to Islamists
The Guardian ^ | July 6, 2004 | Gary Younge

Posted on 07/05/2004 9:04:08 PM PDT by Nachum

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1 posted on 07/05/2004 9:04:09 PM PDT by Nachum
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To: Nachum

I don't know, this whole story sounds fishy to me - like the kidnappers could get more mileage out of this if they said he was still alive and had defected.

I do feel sorry for the family. They'll likely never see him again.


2 posted on 07/05/2004 9:10:13 PM PDT by Theresawithanh (BUSH/CHENEY 2004!!!!!!)
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To: Nachum

Let's see a videotape with him holding up a newspaper from a date after the original claim that they killed him.


3 posted on 07/05/2004 9:12:15 PM PDT by thoughtomator (End the imperialist moo slime colonization of the West!)
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To: Theresawithanh

Has anyone heard if there is any truth to his AWOL status prior to his "kidnapping"?

The story that has been spread (including Fox News) has been that he was in route to Lebanon where his father still lives - and has been missing for a couple of days - and suspected of AWOL status.....


4 posted on 07/05/2004 9:12:49 PM PDT by TheBattman (http://www.miniclip.com/bushshootout.htm)
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To: Theresawithanh

I don't know. God willing he is still alive. He'll be in my prayers.


5 posted on 07/05/2004 9:16:41 PM PDT by monkeyman81
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To: Nachum

If he turns traitor, any info he gives them about our military capabilities will probably just demoralize them.


6 posted on 07/05/2004 9:23:03 PM PDT by bayourod (Can the 9/11 Commission connect the dots on Iraq or do they require a 3-D picture?)
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To: monkeyman81
I don't know. God willing he is still alive. He'll be in my prayers.

Well I sure hope he doesn't show up standing over one of his former Marine brethren holding the sword himself.

7 posted on 07/05/2004 9:23:16 PM PDT by Texasforever (When Kerry was asked what kind of tree he would like to be he answered…. Al Gore.)
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To: Nachum

Is it me or does the US have much troubles in keeping the loyalty of its arab islamic and just islamic soldiers? I wonder when they wake up and realize the enemy within kills too?


8 posted on 07/05/2004 9:23:55 PM PDT by RussianConservative (Xristos: the Light of the World)
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To: Nachum

Hubby wants to see this guy take out about 300 Islamofacists and escape on his own. I agree that would be the best possible ending to this story.


9 posted on 07/05/2004 9:24:52 PM PDT by jocon307 (Nor forgive!)
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To: jocon307

I'm afraid that will not happen. I believe the story. He has been turned.


10 posted on 07/05/2004 9:28:47 PM PDT by Texasforever (When Kerry was asked what kind of tree he would like to be he answered…. Al Gore.)
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To: TheBattman

My understanding, the Marines did
list his status as AWOL for about
a week, then reassessed after the
video of him held hostage. They
authenticated it & changed status
to "captured".

He disappeared from base, that's
a fact. Those close to him guessed
he could be heading to family in
Lebanon, b/c he wanted out of the
violence that "shocked" him when
his NCO got blown apart by a
mortar round.

Weird that he's grabbed by the
most violent of terrorists and
threatened w/beheading.

Now they say he "defected".

Who knows?


11 posted on 07/05/2004 9:30:42 PM PDT by txrangerette
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To: Nachum

I guess he missed the beheading videos.


12 posted on 07/05/2004 9:34:13 PM PDT by ETERNAL WARMING (He is faithful!)
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To: Texasforever

I hope not too. If he has defected and joined the enemy. that would be as bad as if he had been killed. I hope that is not the case.


13 posted on 07/05/2004 9:42:36 PM PDT by monkeyman81
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To: Theresawithanh

Either way he ain't gonna see his family , if he deserted his post he's gonna die.


14 posted on 07/05/2004 9:46:03 PM PDT by KingNo155
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To: Nachum

They got bad press after saying they killed him (the reaction in the Arab world was not so positive) so now they're claiming he's joined them. How can they dig their way out of this? Only if they can claim that US forces killed him in order to silence him, or something like that. In the meantime, they can't offer evidence he's alive.


15 posted on 07/05/2004 10:18:55 PM PDT by xm177e2 (Stalinists, Maoists, Ba'athists, Pacifists: Why are they always on the same side?)
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To: thoughtomator
Let's see a videotape with him holding up a newspaper from a date after the original claim that they killed him.

Photoshop is too easy. How about a video of him READING ALOUD from the newspaper.

16 posted on 07/05/2004 10:38:44 PM PDT by supercat (Why is it that the more "gun safety" laws are passed, the less safe my guns seem?)
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To: Nachum; Miss Marple

Very interesting. At the moment I don't know what to make of this, considering the Arab penchant for deception.


17 posted on 07/05/2004 10:39:24 PM PDT by TheSpottedOwl ("In the Kingdom of the Deluded, the Most Outrageous Liar is King".)
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To: txrangerette
Now they say he "defected".

Who knows?

Stockholm syndrome?

18 posted on 07/05/2004 10:44:33 PM PDT by MediaMole
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To: MediaMole

Maybe they made him an either/or offer...defection or beheading. It's easy for us to shout "Liberty or Death" from behind our keyboards....quite another to have to face it in real life.

Or maybe they psychologically broke him. One thing that's come out of the Korea and Vietnam experiences is that almost anyone can be broken.

Maybe he's playing a double game. During the Vietnam war a POW pretended to cooperate, was released on "humanitarian" grounds, and came home with valuable information on his fellow prisoners--including the names of every single POW comitted to memory, some of whom the US didn't know were being held...sombody here will know his name. He was career Navy, and after he retired as a CPO, stayed on as a civilian consultant at the SERE school.

Or maybe this guy really did go over to the other side. We just don't know at this point.


19 posted on 07/05/2004 10:54:18 PM PDT by kms61
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To: Nachum
There was an odd sentence about this in an article in tomorrow's NY Times:

A senior military official said in an interview that the military did not believe Corporal Hassoun was being held under great duress. He pointed out that he was clean-shaven in the video released June 27 and did not look like a man about to be killed."

I don't know quite what to make of this statement and why a senior military official would say it.

20 posted on 07/05/2004 10:58:25 PM PDT by saquin
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