But Michael Wims, assistant Utah attorney general and a retired colonel who served as chief of military justice in the U.S. Air Force, said that provision doesn't apply because the conflict in Iraq is not a war declared by Congress or by executive order of the president.

"This is not 'in time or war,' " Wims said. "In practicality, even if there was such an authorization, the last time anyone got executed for desertion was World War II, and that was only once."

Some 21,000 American military personnel deserted during World War II, including 49 who were sentenced to death. A firing squad executed Pvt. Eddie Slovik in 1945, making him the only U.S. soldier put to death for desertion since the Civil War.

The number of those who have deserted or gone AWOL in the Iraq war was not immediately available.

In May, Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia, 28, was convicted of desertion after leaving his unit in Iraq in protest of an "oil-driven" war. A military jury gave him a year in jail and a bad conduct discharge, the maximum sentence.

Two other soldiers, Jeremy Hinzman, 25, and Brandon Hughey, 19, fled to Canada earlier this year to avoid being deployed in Iraq. Both say the war is illegal and unjustified. They are the first U.S. soldiers to apply for refugee status in Canada after refusing combat duty in Iraq.

Wims, who was part of the effort to revise the military code to include action taken by a president to declare war in addition to Congress, said even if the death penalty were on the table in Hassoun's case, it would not be applied.

"Nobody would seek it. Let's get real. What kind of message would that send? This guy was in the hands of the terrorists who were going to behead him and they didn't, so we will? It's ridiculous."

Wims, who made it clear he is basing his opinions on what he's heard in the media about Hassoun, said a more likely punishment would be a year or two of confinement at the most. Such a case could even be handled administratively, he said.

It appears that investigators are focusing on desertion as a possible charge, instead of absence without leave (AWOL.) Wims said desertion amounts to being AWOL with the intent not to return.

If a soldier leaves with that intent, the military still considers it desertion, even if that soldier decides to return at some point, Wims said. In Hassoun's case, the offense would have been committed if he had left his post with the intent never to return before his purported capture.

Hassoun family friend Iqbal Hossain said he believes, however, that military officials have suggested from the beginning that Hassoun was a deserter and have not given him the benefit of the doubt.

"On one hand we have the Marine Corps saying in press conferences that they did not want to make any comment," Hossain said. "But several days before that, senior officials hinted that he may have left under his own volition. That's so self-contradictory."

Hossain said people should let the investigation run its course. When asked if he felt that the military would be fair in the investigation, "I still have hope for America," he said. "I don't want to be cynical because if I would be that, I don't think I would want to live in this country."

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