Marine Who Vanished in Iraq Arrives at Base Near U.S. Capital

QUANTICO, Va. (AP) - A U.S. Marine who disappeared in Iraq and turned up in Lebanon three weeks later arrived at a Marine Corps base south of Washington, D.C., on Thursday after six days of evaluation in a U.S. military hospital in Germany, a military official said.

Lt. Col. David Lapan, a Marine Corps spokesman, said Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun would continue to undergo a "repatriation" process until it is determined he is fit and capable of returning to normal duty. He said the process could take from weeks to months.

He left Ramstein Air Base in Germany on a morning flight aboard an Air Force C-5 Galaxy heavy transport plane and stopped first at Dover Air Force Base, Del., where he boarded an Air Force C-12 jet for the flight to Quantico.

A spokesman at Quantico, Marine Corps Capt. Jeff Landis, said Hassoun arrived at 3 p.m. EDT, and was received by a military support team that came from Hassoun's home base at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Quantico is home to the Marines' Officer Candidate School and is a focal point for the service's leadership training and development of new warfighting concepts and technologies.

The Navy has said it is investigating whether the kidnapping might have been a hoax, but the Naval Criminal Investigation Service is not expected to question Hassoun until his repatriation procedure is completed, the Marine Corps said.

As Hassoun left the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center on Wednesday, he said he was eager to get home.

"I am in good health and spirits, I look forward to my return home to friends and family," he said in a written statement provided to The Associated Press, his first public comment since he vanished June 20 from his base near the troubled Iraqi city of Fallujah.

Hassoun had been flown to Germany on Friday after reappearing July 8 at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. It remains unclear how he traveled from Iraq to Lebanon, where he was born and still has some relatives.

"All thanks and praises are due to God for my safety," he said. "I am also very thankful for all the kind wishes, support and praise for me and my family from my fellow Marines, all the people in the United States, Lebanon and around the world."

Hassoun signed the statement "Semper Fidelis," the Marine Corps motto meaning "always faithful."

While he was missing, conflicting reports emerged about Hassoun - first that he was kidnapped and beheaded, then that he was alive. There were suggestions it was a hoax.

Hassoun's debriefing in Germany was designed to help U.S. military specialists learn any lessons about the circumstances of his disappearance that could help others who find themselves in similar situations.

U.S. NOW SUBJECT TO I.C.C.

In the furor over the Abu Ghraib scandal, most Americans missed a side-effect that may have ominous implications for U.S. sovereignty. For the past two years, the United States has been able to convince the United Nations Security Council to adopt a resolution that gives U.S. troops immunity from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC). However, because of the Abu Ghraib abuses, the resolution faced heavy opposition this time around and so the U.S. decided not to press for renewing the resolution. Since June 30, U.S. troops on U.N. approved missions are therefore potentially subject to prosecution by the ICC.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed strong opposition to renewing the resolution, and was joined by others. Ambassador Wang Guangya of China said, "Clearly from the very beginning, this year China has been under pressure because of the scandals and the news coverage of the prisoner abuse, and it made it very difficult for my government to support it." China supported the resolution the past two years.

Announcing the U.S. decision, the deputy American ambassador James B. Cunningham said, "The United States has decided not to proceed further with consideration and action on the draft at this time in order to avoid a prolonged and divisive debate." However, Cunningham also noted that the U.S. is still opposed to the court.

"When the United States voluntarily commits its armed forces to participate in peacekeeping missions around the world, we believe it is wholly inappropriate to subject them to a tribunal which cannot provide adequate guarantees of due process," he said.

The International Criminal Court came into official existence on July 1, 2002, with the purpose of prosecuting individuals for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. It claims jurisdiction over all countries, even those, like the United States, that have not ratified the treaty that formed the court. The United States has opposed the court because it fears that other countries could bring politically motivated lawsuits against U.S. citizens. There is also concern that U.S. citizens could be tried in a court that does not offer trial by jury, a public and speedy trial, protection against double jeopardy and other rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution.

Although the resolution is not going to be renewed this year, there are several things that still offer U.S. troops protection. First, the United States has signed made bilateral agreements with 90 other countries in which those countries have agreed not to prosecute U.S. officials. Secondly, the ICC only accepts cases in which the accused will not be prosecuted by their own country. Since the United States has a reliable court-martial system in place, U.S. soldiers should be able to avoid prosecution by the ICC.

U.S. troops in Iraq are not subject to the court since neither the U.S. nor Iraq signed the treaty that formed the court.

It is useful to note that while Kofi Annan used the Abu Ghraib scandal to fight a renewed immunity for the U.S., he has not shown a true interest in protecting human rights around the world. Some of the worst human rights violators are on the U.N. Human Rights Commission, including Zimbabwe, Sudan, Cuba, China, Uganda, Saudi Arabia and others, and yet Mr. Annan has not protested.

"Am I too paranoid here?"

I don't think there is such a thing when dealing with such a potentially bad situation. I'm sure he got a very good going over when he got back into US hands, and I'm sure they've done a full blood workup on him prior to his ever stepping foot on US soil. I believe most, if not all US troops stationed in the area received shots to prevent Smallpox infection anyway, but the military is every bit as paranoid as you and I.

I'm also a bit skeptical of these folks' ability to harvest, store, and maintain something like Smallpox. These seem to be small, unorganized bands of individuals with a somewhat similar goals. Without the support of a nation state (and yes, I know there are possibly several with hands in this), and one who has a fairly decent bioweapons program, containing and inducing controlled infections would be rather difficult. Difficult, but not impossible.

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