they didn't kill him

[Shaun]

Kidnapped marine 'safe after defecting' to Islamists

Gary Younge in New York
Tuesday July 6, 2004
The Guardian

Kidnapped US marine Wassef Ali Hassoun has been taken to "a place of safety" after he pledged not to return to the US military, his captors told al-Jazeera television in a statement yesterday.
The Islamic Response Movement, the same group that last week admitted to kidnapping Corporal Hassoun and threatening to behead him, would not say where he was being kept.

It is the latest in a series of conflicting claims about the whereabouts, wellbeing and motivations of Cpl Hassoun, a 24-year-old Arabic translator who has been missing since he failed to report for duty at his base in Iraq.

On June 27, al-Jazeera broadcast a video tape by Islamic Response showing Cpl Hassoun blindfolded along with a statement from militants threatening to kill him unless the United States released all Iraqis in "occupation jails". Militants held a curved sword over his head.

A few days later the New York Times reported that Cpl Hassoun, who was born in Lebanon and emigrated to the US four years ago, may have deserted the military in Iraq because he was emotionally traumatised and was abducted by his captors while trying to make his way to Lebanon.

The New York Times quoted a marine officer in Iraq as saying he believed the captive was betrayed by Iraqis he befriended on his base and ended up in the hands of Islamic extremists.

The officer said Cpl Hassoun was shaken up by seeing one of his sergeants blown apart by a mortar bomb.

Then, last Saturday, another militant group calling itself Ansar al-Sunna Army posted a note on an Islamic website saying it had killed him, only to post a denial of the killing on Sunday followed yesterday's statement from Islamic Response.

"The denial gave us a big relief," Cpl Hassoun's brother, Sami, said by telephone from the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, where he, his father and several other relatives live.

The Islamic Response Movement describes itself as the security wing of the National Islamic Resistance - 1920 Revolution Brigades, which takes its name from the uprising against British rule that followed the first world war.

[PAPA G]

i think the sick bastages, are just playing head games, to add to the frustration, and worry of all involved. it does not seem that they would just behead the guy and dump the body and run, but a new twist to psy-war against us.

[Dennis]

It may be true, it may have been planned all along.
No one wants to even concider that these people we are fighting may be smart and determined.

[Rufus Rhastus J]

But, there are reasons they did not kill him, as I understand, he's a muslem and has promised to desert the military. What does that mean? He's gona join them? Let's see. Maybe he's a traitor....maybe he said that to save his life. But, let's not forget these folks are vermin and cannot be trusted. Maybe we should be the one's cutting his head off.

[Shaun]

Ruf I think we should watch him closely if we ever recover him I would say a 4'x8' cell and 0 contact with the outside world for 30 years would be fine.

Rufus and Shaun, what little faith you have in the Marine Corp to train it's soldiers. Did it ever occur to you that what Al-Jazeera says is not true, or even propaganda?

If you think a Marine can break that easily, I'm more than curious to see what they'd do to you under like circumstances. You'd be strapping bombs to your belly on the second day.

[Shaun]

K I would kill myself first --- I know several marines and they tell me if that occured to them they would do the same as I would. Why let them have that satisfaction when I can take it from them. This guy was already AWOL because he had snuck away to go to another country that means he was not a true marine.

I was not aware of his AWOL status. How many Americans killed themselves in the Hanoi Hilton instead of being tortured and confessing to whatever nonsense the NVA could cook up?

[Dale]

I also heard of the AWOL allegation.

I've been wondering if he wasn't a 'wannabe' or a 'fer real' subversive mole that made his way in the Marines underground and if this whole thing was a propaganda tool.

I surely hope someone is interviewing this Marine's family.

This case has a real, real bad smell to it.

[Rufus Rhastus J]

Shaun, I appreciate your thoughts on this. These people scare me. It's really hard to defend against a person who does not care if they die or not. They have been sneaking into the country and, it seems, into high places....I don't think it's unreasonable to be concerned about this trend. The more it happens, imagine what we have not been told, the more these folks should be watched, controled, and limited in the types of access they are allowed. This PC crappola is going to bit us in the bottom if we don't get control of it and do what we already know we must. I'm sorry if the few good guys are insulted by our actions....but, it they are good, they must surly understand why, it is so vital that we remove the "temptation" to act in Allah's behalf.

What if the AWOL story is not true? What if this Marine was kidnapped and set free? Until all the facts are in, and they are not, this is conjecture with a dash of prejudice.
It is interesting that you would suggest our governement spend the money to spy on it's citizens. You set in motion a big brother system which always works against us gunowners.

Be careful what you wish for becuase you just might get it.

[Rufus Rhastus J]

Though I had decided to never again respond to your post, your colossal stupidity and predisposition to reading things I have not written demands one more futile attempt to set your record straight. Listen carefully, please: " I DID NOT SUGGEST THE GUMINT SPEND MONEY TO SPY ON GUN OWNERS OR ANYONE ELSE!" Please, re-read my post...word for word, I think even an scholar, such as yourself, will find, I in no place spoke [wrote] the words you suggest I did. Grab your ankles and pull your head out, if you are going to attack me, at least be factual. Thank you for listening, you did listen didn't you?

PS. In what appears to be your continueing effort to show your supremacy over us lesser folks, you display your lack of smarts when you spout bull**** that was not written. In your frenzy to be supreme you trip on your own shoe laces. Learn from your mistakes, I try to. It's a sign of higher intellegance.

[Shaun]

K I have to go with Ruf in this case -- good comments Ruf

Rufus, this is the part of your post I responded to.

"They have been sneaking into the country and, it seems, into high places....I don't think it's unreasonable to be concerned about this trend. The more it happens, imagine what we have not been told, the more these folks should be watched, controled, and limited in the types of access they are allowed."

Who are "they"? Muslims in general? Anyone from the Middle East? What about the ones who have "terrorist" tattooed on their foreheads?
How would you watch and control "these folks" and limit their access (to what, who)?

You are suggesting certain people be watched and controlled. Now, as I follow this thread, we are talking about a US Marine who is AWOL, dead, or still being held. This Marine is Lebanese which some think divides his loyalty to his country and military service. That is an inductive fallacy.

Paying closer attention to those entities who pose a potential threat to the safety of our country and way of life is a good idea. Who are these entities, what do we define as a threat and, who should be in charge of keeping the tabs? Who will pay for this if not the govt.? Don't we already have a system in place to do this very thing? Is it broken?

While you never said "the govt should spend money to spy on people," your post clearly laid the foundation for such an extrapolation. What is the difference between "spying" and "watching and controlling"? In my mind, there is none.

There are those in places of power who could make a compelling arguement to watch and control people buying more than one gun per month. What do they need all those guns for? Who do they hang around with? What are their politics? Have they suggested large metropolitain areas as terrorist targets? Are they an enemy to our safety? We need to watch and control them just to be sure.

I'm for getting the bad guys and punishing them according to our laws. I'm also for personal privacy, free speech and, govt. keeping it's nose out of places it does not belong. You suggest a benevolant police state is the answer and I do not agree. It is too much control in one place for my comfort.

[Shaun]

K the only other solution is to ban ALL ARAB's from this country or to put tracking bracelets on them at all points of entry into this country -- this way we know where they are at --at any point in time. But that would be common sense.

No, it would not be common sense. It would be a modern version of what the Nazis came up with to deal with all potential threats to their way of life. They used nice little stars and whatnot, but the motivation was the same.

[Rufus Rhastus J]

Shaun, your idea is better than mine...more efficent