Rice Asks Lebanon To Return Utah Marine [Hassoun, also Hammadi]

SLC Daily Star, via KUTV ^ | February 28, 2006 | AP Staff

[La Enchiladita]

SALT LAKE CITY During her visit to Lebanon last week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sought extradition of five men–one of them missing Utah Marine Wassef Ali Hassoun, a Lebanese newspaper reported.

The Daily Star said in a story posted on its Web site Monday that the Lebanese government has refused persistent U.S. requests to hand over the five Lebanese citizens.

However, it quoted an unidentified Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying the refusal was not final, and the request was currently under study by officials.

"We have no official final comment at this point,'' the spokesman told the newspaper.

A State Department spokeswoman was unable to confirm the report, The Salt Lake Tribune said.

Cpl. Hassoun was facing desertion charges from an earlier disappearance when he failed to arrive at his base in Camp Lejeune, N.C., by Jan. 5, 2005, and was declared a deserter for a second time.

Hassoun, an Arabic translator, first disappeared from Camp Fallujah in June 2004. Al-Jazeera Television showed video of Hassoun blindfolded, with a sword above his head. He surfaced a month later in Lebanon, claiming he had been kidnapped.

A five-month investigation by the Navy concluded that Hassoun had stolen a Humvee and fled his camp near Fallujah.

After his second disappearance, family members in both Utah and Lebanon called on Hassoun, a Muslim with citizenship in both the United States and Lebanon, to surrender.

A Naval Criminal Investigative Service official told The Tribune that the agency has reason to believe Hassoun, who was sought for alleged desertion from his unit in Iraq, has been in Lebanon since he disappeared.

...The Star said the others sought for extradition were Imad Mugniyah, Hassan Izzeddine, Ali Atwa and Mohammad Ali Hammadi.

[La Enchiladita]

Right. That was pointed out earlier, and as I suspected. So, any extraditions would have to be negotiated.

[Fred Nerks]

I went through Yahoo Iraq image archives, 900 or more images and still cannot find the picture of the soldiers, but I will keep looking. The picture bothered me so much because the soldiers looked as if they fell where they were standing, never had any warning, never attempted to defend themselves.

[exit82]

"We have no official final comment at this point" a spokesman told the newspaper.

Translation:We're waiting for you to sweeten the offer before we act on this.

[exit82]

Your post made me physically ill.

I had not connected those dots.

Let us know if you find out more.

[danamco]

The old saying ,something is rotten in Denmark



But their cheeses, cookies, hams, baby-back-ribs, beers, etc. are NOT rotten! Keep on buying them !!

[La Enchiladita]

I went through Yahoo Iraq image archives, 900 or more images

Bless you. I wonder if a search or request at military.com would help...

[bayouranger]

FN, now..before I go off, I'll just say this:

There are plenty of reasons why they should NOT be allowed in our military.

Reason #1
PC keeps them safe from prosecution for fear of being called racists. That's why this traitorous piece of pig $hit should be put under.

That's the only justice that will do.

[bayouranger]

Reason #2

Their allegiance is to islam 1st.

That's all for me tonight.

Out.

[Fred Nerks]

That pic disappeared from Yahoo images quite some time ago. It was only after reading about Hassoun again today I decided to go through the archives. Nothing there that I can find.
I know I might be a little obsessional about this, but it's a hunch I've had ever since the very beginning, Hassoun was lying from the moment he opened his mouth, I recall laughing at the staged scene where he was blindfolded so tenderly that his hair wasn't mussed up. He was almost smiling from behind the 'blindfold'.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I read that he had been allowed out (to some family function?) and naturally, he simply disappeared. Canada was where he used a credit card, and now he's in Lebanon.

At that time I discovered there were some 15,000 muslim personnel in the defence forces. One would be too many IMO.

[SFC Chromey]

I don't remember the sniper teams getting ambushed and his disappearance occurring at similar times.

My guess is Mossad knows where he is hiding, has given us the info and Rice is probing the Lebanese (read Syrian) response.

In all ways I prefer him to die a slow and painful death. I hadn't seen anything in print on the sniper ambush that may have led to his involvement, though it wouldn't surprise me.

[Fred Nerks]

He looks positively tewified!

That pic I can't find, although I have the broken link and I have run it through The Wayback Machine without success, was dated June 21.

Hassoun deserted (left the base with a weapon and a military vehicle) on June 20.

[exit82]

Thanks for the background information.This smelled from the very start.