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Wassef Ali Hassoun, a Muslim, faces beheading

Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun is the U.S. Marine who was taken hostage.

According to the the Associated Press, Hassoun is of Lebanese descent and he's Muslim.

Hassoun's family is appealing to the kidnappers on the basis of their shared religion:

Some of Ali Hassoun's relatives, including his father, Ali Hassoun, and a brother, Sami, are in Tripoli, Lebanon. The relatives said contacts were under way with politicians and Muslim clerics in Lebanon and Islamic groups in Iraq to secure the Marine's release.

"We are trying to send word through all channels that he is Lebanese, Arab and a Muslim," Abdullah Hassoun, another member of the extended family and the head of Al-Safira municipality in Lebanon, told The Associated Press.

I find it rather surprising that the insurgents would be going after Islamic soldiers when there are so many infidel ones to behead. However this doesn't seem to be that major of a factor. Besides Wassef Ali Hassoun, there are three Turkish hostages (link to Reuters article) and a Pakistani hostage (link to Reuters article). All of these hostages are being threatened with beheading.

Hopefully these actions against fellow Muslims will cause the insurgents to lose support in the Islamic world.

UPDATE

Wassef Ali Hassoun was a deserter.

My latest thoughts on photos of beheadings not being published in the news media: Sally Mann: What Remains vs. terrorist beheadings.

posted Monday, June 28, 2004

5 Comments:

By digitalbrownshirt:

Killing each other is a bit of a tradition for muslims. It's not surprising at all for me. The Shi'ite tribes in the South are promising to level Falujah and it's Sunni citizens now. It's going to get worse, but eventually I believe it will get better.

Hassoun might have foolishly believed he was safe because of his religion. That would explain why he was caught outside camp alone. I hope that's it, because another possible scenario would be an active collaboration by Hassoun as a voluntary suicide victim. If he was going AWOL in Iraq, I'd think that the first thing he'd do is dump his BDU's for local attire.

posted at 6/28/2004 9:38 PM

By GirriG:

"I find it rather surprising that the insurgents would be going after Islamic soldiers when there are so many infidel ones to behead."

That's a pretty shallow observation: infidels don't know what they're doing; a Muslim, in US uniform, has betrayed the cause. Haven't you noticed traitors are dealt with more harshly?

posted at 6/29/2004 5:40 PM

By strawpuppy:

The dillema ?...First educate yourself...
Good links to some sound footage on current issues concerning this subject...(all links are able to listen again..Needs realplayer..)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3727865.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/muhammad/footsteps/index.shtml

As for me...I hope he escapes and gets home OK....

Strawpuppy

posted at 7/01/2004 9:38 PM

By nothingman:

These guys have made there point!! Everyone should cut off their head and replace it with a cabbage. Except they aren't mentioning the cabbages. Oh, really I haven't given up hope that they will. Except, all these other religions don't follow suit... Religions are cool cause they are always right except they are forgetting about them cabbages.

posted at 7/04/2004 7:03 PM

By sierra:

I am a Lebanese...and it is sad to see that this cancer that has been created in the rgion by ignorant, immature and stupid international politics, is hitting evrybody in a blind and destructive manner. It has nothing to do with religion, it has to do with hatred, anarchy, frustration, ignorance and chaos!

posted at 7/05/2004 5:52 AM