Iraq militants 'behead US marine'

[chocolateeater]

BBC Website

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/3863773.stm


Iraq militants 'behead US marine'


Cpl Hassoun is thought to have been captured about two weeks ago
US officials say they are checking reports that a marine, kidnapped in Iraq, has been beheaded by a group believed to have links to al-Qaeda.
The announcement of the alleged death of Cpl Wassef Ali Hassoun, who is of Lebanese descent, was posted on an Islamic website on Saturday.

The group, Ansar al-Sunna, said there would be a video showing the beheading.

Cpl Hassoun's captors had threatened to kill him unless all Iraqi prisoners held by the Coalition were released.

The threat was made in a videotape broadcast last Sunday by the Arabic satellite TV channel al-Jazeera, which showed Cpl Hassoun blindfolded.

The news followed reports that Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi was considering an amnesty for those who had been fighting the US-led occupation, which could extend to those who have killed Americans.

People who were "in opposition against the Americans, that will be justified because it was an occupation force," Georges Sada, Mr Allawi's spokesman, said. "We will give them freedom."

Mr Sada added that the purpose was to give rebel fighters a second chance, but that this did not necessarily mean a full pardon.

Third beheading?

Cpl Hassoun, who is from the US state of Utah, is believed to have been captured about two weeks ago.

If his death is confirmed, he would be the third hostage to have been killed by militants in Iraq.

Last month, a South Korean translator, Kim Sun-il, was executed by his al-Qaeda-linked captors after Seoul rejected their demands for the withdrawal of South Korean troops from Iraq.

American national Nick Berg was beheaded in May by militants who said they were avenging the prisoners abused by US forces in Iraq.

[DVD Polizei]

I think this beheading and then videotaping the event is getting quite old, not to mention cowardly. Try kidnapping a large group of special ops or marines.

[Jason]

Isn't this the fourth beheading, not the third? Wasn't there another american contractor beheaded in addition to Berg and the Korean guy?

[Ranger]

Johnson in SA?

[Gallant Pig]

Key words "in Iraq".

[PopcornTreeCt]

Well at least we know now the militants don't discriminate.

[Michael Corvin]

This is getting old. This may sound callous but almost warrants a 'what-ever' response. I know it is cruel and I feel for the families, but the reality is that people die in war. Sure the way they are doing it is quite inhumane, but at this point I don't really care. They do it to intimidate us but it just seems so cowardly at this point. They will get thier due.

[jfoobar]

Originally posted by Michael Corvin
This is getting old. This may sound callous but almost warrants a 'what-ever' response. I know it is cruel and I feel for the families, but the reality is that people die in war. Sure the way they are doing it is quite inhumane, but at this point I don't really care. They do it to intimidate us but it just seems so cowardly at this point. They will get thier due.

It is starting to backfire on them is what it is doing.

[DVD Polizei]

But their videography is getting much better. Much less "Blair Witch" going on.

[VinVega]

Originally posted by DVD Polizei
I think this beheading and then videotaping the event is getting quite old, not to mention cowardly. Try kidnapping a large group of special ops or marines.

I would think anyone who's bound hand and feet would probably be able to have their head lopped off no matter what military training they had.

With reagrds to the Marine who they apparently killed, these terrorists are a bunch of f-ing animals. They are not human and should not be treated as such.

[General Zod]

Personally, I'm suprised. Being a Muslim I figured they would let him to go whether he is a Marine or not. Since they have no problems killing for religion, I assumed they would also NOT kill for religion. Guess I gave them too much credit this time.

[Dah-Dee]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/...ain/index.html

Militants deny beheading Marine
Sunday, July 4, 2004 Posted: 9:45 AM EDT (1345 GMT)

(CNN) -- An Islamic militant group claiming to be holding a U.S. Marine hostage has denied killing the man, saying reports that Cpl. Wassef Hassoun had been beheaded were incorrect.

Three Islamic Web sites had posted a message Saturday reporting that Hassoun, who is of Lebanese descent, had been killed. The statement was attributed to Abdullah al Hasan ben Mahmoud, the leader of Ansar al-Sunna.

But the militant group said Sunday that any statements it issued would be published on its own Web site.

"This statement quoting us is baseless, and it's not true at all," the Ansar al-Sunna said in a statement posted on its Web site.

The group said it was issuing the statement "in order to keep our credibility in all matters and all issues."

Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri had earlier told CNN that reports of Hassoun's death were rumors and there was no confirmation he had been killed.

Hassoun, who was trained as a truck driver but worked as a translator, was reported missing June 20 when he did not report for duty at his base in Iraq. He was last seen June 19.

His family remained in seclusion in West Jordan, Utah, where more than a dozen full-size U.S. flags planted by a Boy Scout troop fluttered on poles lining their lawn.

Last Sunday, the Arabic-language network Al-Jazeera broadcast video of a man identified as Hassoun surrounded by armed men.

His captors showed his Marine identification papers, and one of them brandished a sword above his head.

On the tape, a speaker said the man was lured from his base and captured, and his captors threatened to kill him unless U.S. military authorities released Iraqi prisoners.

[Leila]

Those animals don't even deserve to breathe. I would have no pity on them and drop a nuclear bomb on their stupid a..!

[nazz]

The group said it was issuing the statement "in order to keep our credibility in all matters and all issues."

It'd be a shame if they were to lose credibilty.

[General Zod]

Originally posted by General Zod
Personally, I'm suprised. Being a Muslim I figured they would let him to go whether he is a Marine or not. Since they have no problems killing for religion, I assumed they would also NOT kill for religion. Guess I gave them too much credit this time.

Then again.. maybe I got it right.. If you believe Al-Jazeera.. which I don't...

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...5358&printer=1

AGHDAD (AFP) - A US marine held hostage in Iraq (news - web sites) was released, according to a statement purportedly from an Islamic militant group received by the Arab television channel Al-Jazeera.

The statement attributed to the Islamic Retaliation Movement, which had previously threatened to behead Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun, said the Lebanese-born marine was "returned to his safe base."

The US marines said they had no news of Hassoun's release and were still listing him as captured.

"We're not going to comment on what al-Jazeera is saying," said Lieutenant Corporal T.V. Johnson.

"When we have more information on his status, which is proven, we'll release it."

On Sunday the Al-Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Sunna group denied a statement issued in its name and posted on the Internet a day earlier saying it had executed Hassoun.

The US marines confirmed on Wednesday that Hassoun went missing on June 21 after Al-Jazeera broadcast a tape from the Islamic Retaliation Movement showing a blinfolded Hassoun with a sword over his head.

The group threatened to decapitate him unless all prisoners were released in Iraq.

[DVD Polizei]

It's a sad day when a terrorist group doesn't know what's going on.

[Dah-Dee]

Brother Says Missing Marine in Iraq Freed

41 minutes ago

BEIRUT, Lebanon - The family of a Lebanese-born U.S. Marine held hostage in Iraq (news - web sites) said it was confident Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun had been freed and was well, though relatives have not heard directly from him, his brother said Tuesday.

"We have received reliable information the guy is free," Sami Hassoun told The Associated Press from the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, where the Marine has family.

Though he had not spoken with his brother, who was serving as a translator with the U.S. Marines in Iraq when he went missing June 20, Sami Hassoun said "we received a sign from my brother reassuring us."

He would not say what was the sign, but said the family received information deemed credible from a person he did not identify who came to their Tripoli home. That person, he said, did not disclose the whereabouts of the Marine to the family.

Lebanese Foreign Ministry officials said in Beirut that its embassy in Baghdad said Hassoun was still alive. They gave no further details.

Hassoun's family in Tripoli and in Utah have had their hopes dashed and raised with conflicting information about the Marine's fate coming from his purported captors and Lebanese officials.

On Saturday, a militant group calling itself the Ansar al-Sunna Army claimed on a Web site that it had beheaded the 24-year-old Marine, adding it would release video backing that assertion. But the group said Sunday it did not issue the statement, leaving it unclear what had happened to Hassoun.

In a statement sent to Al-Jazeera television, a group calling itself "Islamic Response," said Monday that Hassoun was safe at an undisclosed location. The statement also claimed Hassoun had promised not to return to the American military.

"We pray that the news of his safe release is true," Tarek Nosseir, a family spokesman, said Monday. "If he is still in captivity, we remind the captors of the saying of our beloved prophet: Be merciful to those on earth, mercy will descend upon you from heaven."

Hassoun, educated at American schools in his native Lebanon before moving to the Salt Lake City area, was serving his second stint in Iraq.

His father, Ali Hassoun, who also lives in Tripoli, repeatedly has pleaded for his son's release. He and his other sons have contacted politicians and Muslim clerics in Lebanon and Islamist groups in Iraq in hopes of securing the Marine's release.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...ssing_marine_3

[BadlyDrawnBoy]

Great news if he has been freed

[B.A.]

Originally posted by BadlyDrawnBoy
Great news if he has been freed

I agree.

Was it ever confirmed if he was a deserter or not?

[johnglass]

He just turned up at the US embassy in Beirut.

Edit: With head safely attached.

Story

[Thor Simpson]

About time they found out where this guy really is. Jeepers. Can't wait to see the story behind this one.

Glad he's alive

[kvrdave]

Interesting. I wonder if he tricked them.

[Cardiff Giant11]

Part of me thinks this thing was an arranged hoax perpetrated by the marine. We'll see when the truth hopefully emerges.

[ukywyldcat]

Just wait. One of these days they will do it to a woman or child or behead a family.

[Nazgul]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/...nce/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Military investigators have re-opened the case of U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Wassef Hassoun after several personal items -- including his military ID and civilian passport -- were found in Falluja, the city where he disappeared in June.

Hassoun reappeared July 7 in Lebanon, where he was born and has relatives.

What happened to Hassoun during that time has been a mystery to military investigators who recently closed two separate investigations into the disappearance.

Because of the new evidence, the case of Hassoun's disappearance is unexpectedly open again. Investigators are assessing the evidence found in Falluja.

After the initial report that Hassoun was missing, military officials assumed he had walked away from camp. He was listed as a deserter.

His status was changed to captured after the release of a videotape that showed him blindfolded with a sword suspended over his head. A few days later, a posting to three Islamist Web sites claimed Hassoun had been beheaded.

Hassoun denied being a deserter and staging his own kidnapping.

A Marine Corps official said representatives of the Naval Criminal Investigative Services did not interview Hassoun until after he completed his 30-day home leave, following his repatriation back to the United States.

Hassoun may now be interviewed again, the official said.

Hassoun's civilian passport, military identification card and his military uniform were all found, sources said.

The uniform was described by those familiar with the case as being in "remarkably good shape."

Other items with Hassoun's name on them, but which the sources declined to describe, were also found. It appeared that some items of identification were altered, the sources said.

Hassoun's personal weapon disappeared from the camp just outside Falluja at the same time he did. It was never recovered.

Also, an amount of cash he had has not been found, sources said.

Two weeks ago, the NCIS presented its findings on two ongoing investigations into Hassoun's disappearance.

One investigation was a missing-person case. The other was a criminal probe into whether there was a breach of national security or classified information.

Marine Corps officials would not say what those findings were. The findings were presented to the top commander of the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade at Camp Lejeune, Hassoun's unit.

Odd