Marine Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun denied Monday reports that he had deserted, in his first public comments since returning to the United States last week."I did not desert my post. I was captured and held against my will by anti-coalition forces for 19 days," Hassoun said from the Quantico Marine base near Washington.
"This was a very difficult and challenging time for me," he told reporters.
The 24-year-old Lebanese-born Hassoun disappeared June 21 from his base near Fallujah, and later reappeared as a captive of Islamic militants in a videotape aired by Al-Jazeera, the Dubai-based Arab news channel.
Despite threats to behead him, he turned up alive and well July 8 in Lebanon, and returned Thursday to the United States.
But officials have raised questions about his disappearance, which is under investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Services.
One Pentagon official has said suspicions exist that Hassoun may have deserted to join his family in Lebanon.
However, Marine Corps spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel David Lapan, said the military had yet to reach a conclusion on Hassoun's disappearance.
"We're not in the position at this point to make a judgment either way," Lapan said.
"We are still gathering facts and information, and until that process is complete, at this point, we are supporting our young Marine in bringing him back from a very harrowing ordeal and supporting his return to duty," Lapan said.
Lapan said Hassoun had expressed no reluctance of returning to full duty, if and when such a decision is made.
He added that Hassoun would soon be transferred to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina to rejoin his unit and be available to the inquiry into his disappearance, which could last several months.
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