July 04, 2004
Iraqi "militant group" denies murder of US Marine
On its own web site the Army of Ansar al-Sunna said that a claim announcing the beheading of Lebanese-born US Marine Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun was false.
According to the sources this morning, the fate of Cpl. Hassoun has not been determined.
"The media have published, quoting the Lebanese foreign ministry, that the Ansar al-Sunna Army has killed the American hostage, from Lebanese origin, who was kidnapped in Iraq," the statement said.I still want The Few and The Proud to open an industrial sized can of large-scale whoopass on 'em."In order to maintain our credibility in all issues we declare that this statement that was attributed to us has no basis of truth," the statement said.
"We have an official Web site for publication, any statement that is not issued through our site, doesn't represent us," it said.
This is good news, I think. I agree, they need taking care of though.
Happy Independence Day, Michael. :)
Posted by: Deb at July 4, 2004 05:58 PMMike,
I hate to say this, but Cpl. Hassoun's fate is sealed. In my opinion, the reason this group is denying that he is dead is because they realize it would not go over well with the fence-sitting public that they had killed a fellow Muslim. Just speculation, I hope I'm wrong, but I will be surprised if he was found alive.
Maybe they're backtracking because they've been spooked by the Marines' reputation? In any case, it's not gonna play out well for them in the long run.
Posted by: Lola Lee at July 5, 2004 09:01 AMThis story has gotten much murkier today. Has Hassoun agreed to not go back to the Marines? Has he defected? Is he being coerced to say anything?
Posted by: Douglas at July 5, 2004 08:03 PM