July 1, 2004
The American Marine abducted by Islamic extremists in Iraq reportedly had deserted because of emotional trauma.
The New York Times reports corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun had witnessed one of his sergeants blown apart by a mortar shell. He was said to be trying to get back to his native Lebanon.
Now here’s the really interesting part. The newspaper reports that an officer who knows Corporal Hassoun says the Marine spoke with some folks he befriended, "because they were all fellow Muslims, and they helped sneak him off.
Once off, instead of helping him get home, they turned him over to the bad guys."
This should shock America’s military and civilian leaders into reality. Does this mean that we have Muslim soldiers in the ranks who put their view of Islam ahead of service to the United States?
If so, why are they in the military?
Every Marine who helped this guy go AWOL should be arrested and prosecuted and if found guilty tossed out of the service and, if possible, deported.
This is outrageous and it’s also dangerous to our mission in Iraq and to the lives of the troops.
I’m Cal Thomas in Washington.
Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C. Watch his television show, After Hours with Cal Thomas, on the Fox News Channel, Saturdays at 11 p.m. Eastern Time.
