A welcome announcement from Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun. From AP:
QUANTICO, Va. – Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, the Marine who disappeared under mysterious circumstances while on duty in Iraq, insisted on Monday that he was captured by enemy forces and that he is still a loyal Marine.
“I did not desert my post,” he told reporters 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. He was joined by his brother, who arrived from Utah.
“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.”
I hope he will eventually explain why his family thought it necessary to explain to the Muslim world that he joined the Marines out of necessity “” strongly suggesting that he did not hold to Marine principles and was not motivated by a sense of patriotic duty.