GERMANY: LEBANESE BORN US MARINE ARRIVES BACK AT GERMAN AIR BASE FOLLOWING ABDUCTION IN IRAQ
Record ID:
566317
GERMANY: LEBANESE BORN US MARINE ARRIVES BACK AT GERMAN AIR BASE FOLLOWING ABDUCTION IN IRAQ
- Title: GERMANY: LEBANESE BORN US MARINE ARRIVES BACK AT GERMAN AIR BASE FOLLOWING ABDUCTION IN IRAQ
- Date: 9th July 2004
- Summary: (W8) RAMSTEIN, GERMANY (JULY 9, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF US AIRBASE AND FLAGS 0.05 2. WIDE OF MILITARY PLANE (WHICH BROUGHT US MARINE CORPORAL WASSEF ALI HASSOUN) ON THE TARMAC 0.10 3. CLOSE UP OF BACK OF PLANE WITH AMBULANCE (I WHICH CORPORAL HASSOUN - NOT SEEN - WAS TRANSFERRED) / PULLOUT TO WIDE OF PLANE 0.30 4. VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS BRINGING SUPPLIES OUT OF THE PLANE 0.43 5. SLV AMBULANCE DRIVING AWAY WITH CORPORAL HASSOUN (NOT SEEN) ON BOARD 0.57 6. SLV MORE OF AMBULANCE 1.09 7. CLOSE OF SOLDIERS IN THE BACK OF PLANE 1.16 8. VARIOUS OF PLANES ON THE TARMAC 1.38 (W8) LANDSTUHL, GERMANY (JULY 9, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 9. VARIOUS OF US FORCES OFFICIALS ENTERING THE NEWS CONFERENCE 2.03 10. CLOSE OF NEWS CAMERAS 2.11 11. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAJOR TIM KEEFE, PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER FOR THE U.S MARINES CORPS FORCES IN EUROPE SAYING: "Right now the focus is not on the investigation, the focus is on getting him here, making sure he's healthy and his welfare is taken care of and then starting the whole repatriation process." 2.24 12. WIDE OF MAJOR KEEFE SPEAKING DURING NEWS CONFERENCE 2.35 13. SCU (SOUNDBITE)(English) ARMY L.T.C SALLY HARVEY CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST SAYING: His spirits are good, he's glad to be back. He slept for several hours on the aircraft coming here. Again, he's very tired, he's going to be sleeping tonight. He's anticipating, looking forward to participating in the repatriation process tomorrow." 2.51 14. CLOSE OF JOURNALIST WRITING 2.58 15. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAJOR KEEFE SAYING: "I don't think it is fair to characterise this as a desertion. Remember there is an investigation going on so we can't characterize this one way or another. Still we try to find out the facts." (Question by reporter) "He was listed in a deserter status. But I believe June 27 they changed that to a captured status once they saw the video." 3.25 16. WIDE OF PRESS CONFERENCE 3.36 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 24th July 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LANDSTUHL, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Reuters ID: LVA76RXXOFBS5KKCSPQSZTDWMX96
- Story Text: Military briefing on US Marine Corporal Wassef Ali
Hassoun.
A Lebanese-born U.S. marine who went missing in Iraq
and was at one point thought to have been beheaded arrived
in Germany from Lebanon on Friday (July 9) on a U.S.
military plane, a U.S. official said.
Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun, whose disappearance from
his unit in Iraq, apparent abduction and reappearance in
Lebanon weeks later have been mired in confusion, is
expected to return to the United States after a few days in
Germany.
"Right now the focus is not on the investigation, the
focus is on getting him here, making sure he's healthy and
his welfare is taken care of and then starting the whole
repatriation process," said Major Tim Keefe, Public Affairs
Officer For The U.S Marines Corps Forces In Europe at a
news conference in Landstuhl.
A Marine Corps spokesman in Washington said earlier a
preliminary inquiry suggested he had deserted his unit in
Iraq on June 21. His status was changed to "captured" a
week later, after video footage showed him being held
hostage. The Naval Criminal Investigative service is still
investigating. Talking about his status, Major Keefe also said: "I
don'
t
think it is fair to characterise this as a desertion.
Remember there is an investigation going on so we can't
characterize this one way or another. Still we try to find
out the facts."
Hassoun turned himself over to the U.S. embassy in
Beirut on Thursday (July 8). Members of his family who saw
him there said he seemed healthy and in relatively good
spirits.
"There were mixed feelings," his brother Sami said. "We
were excited to see him ... We tried to cheer him up. He
was tense, you could see on his face that he'd been through
a lot. But there was a small smile on his face, he was
happy to see us."
U.S. military officials said that in Landstuhl, Hassoun
would undergo "physical and mental evaluations, as well as
an extensive debriefing process".
Talking at the news conference in Landstuhl, Army L.T.C
Sally Harvey, Clinical Psychologist, said: "His spirits are
good, he's glad to be back. He slept for several hours on
the aircraft coming here. Again, he's very tired, he's
going to be sleeping tonight. He's anticipating, looking
forward to participating in the repatriation process
tomorrow."
Hassoun's family has refused to elaborate on the
circumstances of the marine's disappearance from his unit
or how he made his way to Lebanon.
A linguist from the First Marine Expeditionary Force,
he was believed to have been taken hostage and was at one
point shown in a video tape distributed by an Islamist
group in Iraq with a sword poised near his head.
Islamist websites later reported he was executed. But
another Islamist group then said he had been spared after
pledging to leave the U.S. military.
Hassoun was born in Lebanon and emigrated to the United
States four years ago. He has family in and around the
northern Lebanese city of Tripoli and also in West Jordan,
Utah.
Two people were killed in Tripoli on Thursday (July 8)
in a gunfight between Hassoun's family and a rival family
which witnesses said was sparked by taunts about Hassoun's
relationship with the U.S. military.
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