Reuters: “Kidnappers in Iraq released on Tuesday a Lebanese-born U.S. marine they were once thought to have decapitated, his brother said.”
Wassef Ali Hassoun’s brother Sami, speaking from the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, said his family had received word Hassoun was alive and had been freed in the early hours, but declined to specify the source of the information.
The U.S. military in Baghdad could not immediately confirm that Hassoun, missing since June 21, had been released.
“We got solid assurances that my brother is alive and was released today,” the marine’s brother told reporters.
Conflicting statements on Web sites have sown confusion about Hassoun’s fate in the last few days. One Islamist group denied a claim put out in its name that he had been beheaded.
Curiouser and curiouser.
interesting. brave enough to kill innocent civilians, but when it comes to a marine they balk @ the chance to demonstrate how truly devoted to Allah they are. perhaps the blowback was too much for them to overcome? perhaps we should treat beheadings of civilians the same as we would beheadings of marines?
I think the ambivalence about killing a Muslim was probably greater than the ambivalence about killing a Marine. The question still remains–was this guy already a deserter when he was kidnapped? If so, the inevitibility of Marine retribution would have been greatly diminished.
He’s a deserter, and/or he’s dead, and/or he was caught in some sort of trap.