Marine Facing Desertion Charge Is Missing Again

The Marine charged with desertion after he claimed to have been kidnapped last year in Iraq was again declared a deserter Wednesday after he failed to return from a holiday leave.

Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun was required to return to Camp Lejeune by noon Tuesday, but did not report for duty in a motor pool, said Maj. Matt Morgan, a spokesman for the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade.

Hassoun was still missing Wednesday, Morgan said.

Hassoun’s command “officially declared him a deserter and issued authorization for civil authorities to apprehend Hassoun and return him to military control,” Morgan said.

Hassoun was with his family in West Jordan, Utah, for about a week before he left Dec. 28, family spokesman Tarek Nosseir said. He said there was no indication of any trouble.

On Dec. 28, Hassoun’s family took him to the airport for a flight to North Carolina. They have been trying since Dec. 29 to reach him by cellphone with no success, Nosseir said.

Neither Morgan nor Nosseir could confirm broadcast reports that Hassoun might have gone to Canada or Lebanon.

Hassoun was listed as missing in Iraq after he failed to report for duty June 20. A week later, the Arabic news network Al-Jazeera broadcast a photo of Hassoun looking as if he were a hostage, blindfolded and with a sword behind his head.

Hassoun contacted American officials in Beirut on July 8 and was taken to the American Embassy there.

He has made one statement since returning to the United States, saying he was captured and held against his will by anticoalition forces.

Hassoun was charged last month with desertion, theft, loss of government property and wrongful appropriation of a government vehicle. The desertion count carries a five-year maximum prison sentence.