Sorry I'm being so negligent regarding so many things:
"Trial of Marine’s Iraq desertion begins" Associated Press February 09, 2015
RALEIGH, N.C. — A Marine who vanished from a base in Iraq and wound up in Lebanon is set to face trial more than a decade after the puzzling case began.
Corporal Wassef Hassoun’s court martial on desertion and other charges starts Monday at Camp Lejeune. Defense attorneys maintain that he was kidnapped in 2004 by insurgents and that later, after briefly returning to the United States, he became tangled up in Lebanese courts for years.
Prosecutors say Hassoun fled his post in Iraq because he was unhappy with his deployment and didn’t like how US troops treated Iraqis. However, a September report from the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing acknowledges that prosecutors could have a hard time proving their largely circumstantial case because of the difficulty in tracking down witnesses.
The case began when Hassoun went missing from a base in Fallujah in June 2004. Days later, he appeared blindfolded and with a sword poised above his head in a photo purportedly taken by insurgents. An extremist group claimed to be holding him captive.
Not long after that, Hassoun turned up unharmed at the US Embassy in Beirut, saying he had been kidnapped. But officials were suspicious, and he was brought back to Camp Lejeune while the military considered charging him with desertion and counts related to a pistol and Humvee he’s accused of taking.
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How come he didn't get Bergdahl treatment?
UPDATE:
"Marine who fled in ‘04 convicted of desertion" Associated Press February 24, 2015
RALEIGH, N.C. — A US Marine who vanished a decade ago in Iraq was convicted Monday of desertion for leaving his post there and then fleeing to Lebanon after a brief return to the United States.
The judge at Camp Lejeune, Marine Major Nicholas Martz, ruled in a bench trial that Corporal Wassef Hassoun was guilty of deserting for the 2004 and 2005 disappearances. Hassoun was also convicted of losing his service pistol.
A sentencing hearing was expected to begin Monday afternoon. A spokesman for the Marines, Captain Stewart Coles, said in a release that Hassoun faces a maximum penalty of 7½ years in prison, reduction in rank, loss of pay, and a dishonorable discharge.
While the judge determined Hassoun intentionally fled during the two disappearances at the heart of the case, his ruling leaves the defendant facing a less severe punishment than he did at the trial’s outset. Had Hassoun been convicted of all charges and specifications, he could have been sentenced to a maximum of 27 years in prison.
His loss of the pistol could have resulted in a more severe offense under the military’s destruction of property law, and he was found not guilty of a separate theft charge related to the pistol.
Hassoun’s case began when he disappeared from a base in Fallujah in June 2004. Days later, he appeared blindfolded and with a sword held above his head in an image purportedly taken by insurgents.
And they didn't behead him?
The extremist group claimed to be holding him captive. But Hassoun turned up unharmed at the US Embassy in Beirut, saying he’d been kidnapped. Officials were suspicious, and he was returned to Camp Lejeune in 2004 while the military considered charging him. After his return, Hassoun was allowed to visit family in Utah but disappeared a second time in early 2005.
The Globe didn't abandon the story but I am about to.
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