Marine Charged With Desertion Disappears

RALEIGH, N.C. — Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun (search), the Marine who was once thought kidnapped in Iraq only to be charged later with desertion, has disappeared, Marine officials announced Wednesday.

Hassoun had been on leave with his family in West Jordan, Utah, when he was scheduled to return to Camp Lejeune (search), N.C., on Tuesday, military officials told FOX News. As of 3 p.m. EST, Hassoun's command "officially declared him a deserter and issued authorization for civil authorities to apprehend Hassoun and return him to military control," a military statement said.

Sources told FOX News Hassoun had been allowed to go on leave to visit his family for New Year's. He was due back at noon on Tuesday.

But Hassoun's brother said the family did not know his whereabouts, and had not heard from him since Dec. 28, when they took him to the Salt Lake City airport for a flight to North Carolina.

Mazen Hassoun said his family was trying to reach military officials to confirm Wassef Hassoun's status.

When I was in the Army, you were considered AWOL (absent with out leave) for the first 30 days you were missing. After those first 30 days you then changed to deserter status, a much more serious offense. Perhaps because he was missing for a while once before, the USMC had the authority to call this guy a deserter for any additional missing time, no matter how small an amount of time it might be.

Laginappe from July 2004:

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Relatives of a U.S. Marine who surfaced in Beirut nearly three weeks after an apparent kidnapping in Iraq appealed for understanding from fellow Arabs on Saturday, saying the Lebanese-born man emigrated and joined the Marines for financial reasons.

Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun was doing well and recovering at a U.S. military hospital in Germany after being flown out of Lebanon on Friday, a Marine spokesman said. He is expected to return to his home unit in Camp Lejeune, N.C., next week.

In Hassoun’s native city of Tripoli, his family issued a statement saying he was forced to go to the United States and join the Marines because of the deteriorating economic situation caused by Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war.

The statement appeared aimed at countering criticism by some fundamentalist Sunni Muslims in Tripoli who accused Hassoun’s family of being “American agents and collaborators.” It stressed the family’s Arab and Islamic ties, and its loyalty to Lebanon.

“We are a family of Lebanese Arab Muslims. We are not seeking to defend ourselves,” the Hassoun family’s statement said. “But we would like to thank the Lebanese for sympathizing with one of their sons (Hassoun) who was pushed by the difficult living conditions in their home country to emigrate and forced to work in a position that they may not like.”

The statement said Hassoun, 24, was “driven by the lure of a good life to emigrate, (but he) might have made a mistake by choosing to sign a four-year contract with the U.S. Navy, which expires by the end of 2005.” Source.

I can't fathom the decision to give this man leave.

"Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun (search), the Marine who was once thought kidnapped in Iraq only to be charged later with desertion, has disappeared"

Gee, now there's a surprise. I guess he got tired of painting rocks, and decided to head to Pakistan.

I have it on good authority (high-ranking, in-country Marine officer buddy) that this sh**bag was very likely involved in the compromise and execution of a USMC Sniper team.

Maybe God just found a way to compromise him.

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