The US marine who disappeared under mysterious circumstances while on duty in Iraq, has insisted that he was captured by insurgents and that he is still a loyal Marine.
"I did not desert my post," Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun told reporters yesterday outside Quantico Marine Corps Base. "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."
He did not answer any questions during his brief appearance.
"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."
An army spokesman said the Marine Corps was not in a position to confirm or refute Cpl Hassoun 's claim.
Cpl Hassoun (24) of West Jordan, Utah, disappeared on June 20th from his base near the Iraqi city of Fallujah and turned up unharmed at the US Embassy in
Beirut on July 8th.
It remains unclear how he travelled from Iraq to Lebanon, where he was born and still has some relatives.
On June 27th, Arab television showed a videotape of a blindfolded Hassoun , a
sword hanging over his head. At one point during his disappearance, a group
claiming to represent his captors announced that he had been beheaded after
being lured from the base by a love affair.
The military is investigating whether the reported kidnapping was a hoax and
whether the Cpl Hassoun deserted his unit.