Deserter Deserts Again!?!?

Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun who was first believed kidnapped by terrorists then appeared to have deserted then again rumored to have been captured then freed and ultimately charged with desertion appears to have deserted again!

What a confusing mess this is for the United States Marine Corps.

According to Fox News.com Hassoun had been on leave with his family in West Jordan, Utah, when he was scheduled to return to Camp Lejeune, 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.

Wait a minute did that say on leave? This guy disappears from a Marine Camp near Fallujah, shows up in a terrorist video where they threaten to behead him, miraculously escapes or is freed (under very questionable circumstances), ends up in Lebanon and is ultimately charged with desertion was allowed to go on leave?

Now, I don't mean to be rude, and I have nothing but respect for the Marine Corps, but you see something like this and it doesn't make the term “Jarhead” so hard to understand. What were they thinking? A man is charged with a crime during a time of war and they allow him to go on leave?

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.

Talk about pathetic, I know people who are serving honorably, who are not under suspicion of anything and couldn't get time off to be with there families for the holidays, yet Hassoun who appears to have had some sort of conspiracy with terrorists was allowed to be on leave to "visit his family for New Year's."

This story gets more and more pathetic and the Marine Corps looks worse and worse with every new event.

I hope that they catch Hassoun. He needs his day in court.

"I did not desert my post," Hassoun told reporters in July after returning to the United States. "I was captured and held against my will by anti-coalition forces for 19 days. This was a very difficult and challenging time for me."

Yeah, he didn't desert his post then and let me guess, some nice Mormon Grandma kidnapped him at the Salt Lake City Airport and he isn't a deserter this time either.

"I would like to tell all the Marines as well as all those others serving in Iraq to keep their heads up and spirits high. Once a Marine, always a Marine, Semper Fi," Hassoun said, invoking the Marine Corps motto, Latin for "always faithful."

Always faithful my ass! Faithful to who? Bin Ladin, Zarqawi, yourself? Twice you have disappeared under extremely questionable circumstances.

Many Marines say, once a Marine, always a Marine and you will here former Marines refer to themselves as former and not ex. Well, I sincerely hope that if you are convicted of the things it is starting to look like you did, you realize that you will not be a former Marine nor will you qualify as an ex Marine, you will be nothing more than a deserter, an un-American.

I blogged quite a bit on this subject (as you can see by the numerous links that started this post) but now I feel as if perhaps I wasted my time.

SlagleRock Out!

**UPDATE** BC, The Imperial Torturer tells us that through ATM records Hassoun has been tracked through Canada and back to Lebanon.

Posted by SlagleRock at January 6, 2005 11:54 AM