Missing marine alive and well

2004-07-08 19:58

Beirut - A US Marine who was reported missing in Iraq more than two weeks ago is alive and at the US Embassy in Beirut, where American officials are meeting with him, authorities said on Thursday.

Wassef Ali Hassoun is safe and appears to be in good health, said a Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

US state department spokesperson Richard Boucher said in Washington: "We were able to go get him."

When reached at his West Jordan, Utah, home on Thursday morning, Hassoun's brother, Mohamad, said he had no comment.

Contradictory reports have surrounded the fate of the 24-year-old Lebanese native since his disappearance June 20.

On Saturday, a statement posted on a website known for extremist Muslim comment said Hassoun had been beheaded. A day later, another web statement declared he had not been killed.

Possible hoax

An Iraqi militant group said on Monday it was holding him in a safe place but hadn't killed him. Al-Jazeera television broadcast the statement from "Islamic Response," which claimed responsibility June 27 for Hassoun's kidnapping.

NBC reported the Navy was investigating whether his disappearance may be part of a kidnapping hoax. A Marine spokesperson confirmed the Navy investigation remains open.

"I don't think they're ruling that out. It would be fair to say they're not ruling that out," Major Nat Fahy said earlier on Thursday.

Reports emerged he might have been freed after his family in Utah said on Tuesday they had word that he had been released and was safe, but they didn't know where.

Earlier, a Lebanese Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Hassoun "is with his parents" in northern Lebanon. But journalists gathered outside the family's Tripoli home saw no sign of Hassoun.

FBI met with family

Hassoun's brother, Sami, refused to confirm or deny the information.

On Tuesday, he said someone had visited the family in northern Lebanon and told them his brother was free and well. A Lebanese government official said on Wednesday the kidnappers released Hassoun after he pledged he would not return to the US military.

Two FBI agents met with the Hassoun family in Utah for about 20 minutes on Wednesday. The agents were not there to deliver any news to the family, but instead were sent to determine where the family was getting its information about Hassoun's whereabouts, agent Kelly Kleinvachter said.

The Marines said Hassoun disappeared on "unauthorised leave," but changed his status to "captured" after he turned up June 27 on television blindfolded with a sword hanging over his head.

Some of those claiming to be the captors have said he was romantically involved with an Arab woman and was lured away from his Marine base and captured. There also were reports that Hassoun, who was educated at American schools in Lebanon before moving to Utah and joining the Marines, might have been trying to get to Lebanon when he was captured.

- AP