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Ten years ago this month, U.S. Marine Wassef Ali Hassoun disappeared from Camp Fallujah in Iraq. After a five-month military investigation, he was charged with desertion and theft, brought back to Virginia’s Quantico Marine base, and then transferred to North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune for trial.Yet, a full decade later, Hassoun is as free as a bird.
Those (D)'s sure do love them some deserters.
Marines file charges against corporal suspected of deserting twiceOfficials said the charges had been preferred against Hassoun, an interim step to formal charges. In the military justice system, formal charges are only finalized following an Article 32, or preliminary investigative hearing. It’s not clear yet when a determination will be made to move forward with Hassoun’s Article 32 hearing.If finalized, the charge of desertion is especially serious. Unlike the charge of absence without leave, which carries a maximum penalty of dishonorable discharge and confinement for 18 months, desertion from a war zone is one of the few military crimes that is punishable by death. A range of lesser punishments, including confinement for two to five years, are also possible.Hassoun first disappeared from his unit, Human Exploitation Team-9, where he was working as an interpreter during a 2004 deployment to Iraq. At the time, Hassoun’s family claimed he was abducted—a claim that appeared to be corroborated when the Al -Jazeera news network broadcast a photo of Hassoun blindfolded, with a man holding a sword behind his head.