Marine's Utah cousin irate: N.Y. Times admits quote incomplete

The cousin of Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, the West Jordan Marine facing decapitation at the hands of his captors in Iraq, is upset that his quotations were used to bolster an argument that his cousin had deserted the military.

Tarek Hassoun's comments in a New York Times article reinforced concerns that the family has expressed about talking with the news media. He said his statement was used out of context and contradicted his understanding of the situation.

And late Wednesday, the Times issued a correction saying as much.

Tarek Hassoun, who lives in the Salt Lake City area, was quoted by the Times in a story that was widely reprinted and used as the basis of other articles. The New York Times also quoted an unnamed Marine officer who said he believed Wassef Hassoun was betrayed by Iraqis on his base and ended up in the hands of insurgents.

The officer said the 24-year-old Hassoun, born in Lebanon, was shaken when he saw one of his sergeants blown apart by a mortar shell. Disturbed, he wanted to quit, the officer said. He talked to some people on base he had befriended, "because they were all fellow Muslims, and they helped sneak him off," reported the Times, in its quote of the unnamed officer.

"Once off, instead of helping him get home, they turned him over to the bad guys," the man told the paper.

The Times referred to Wassef Hassoun as a "Marine linguist." However, a Marine spokeswoman insisted Tuesday that he was not a linguist but a motor vehicle driver.

As if to bolster the argument Wassef Hassoun had considered leaving his base in Iraq, the Times quoted Tarek Hassoun, his cousin.

The Times said about two months ago Wassef Hassoun told Tarek Hassoun that several American deserters had escaped by bribing Iraqis to help get them out of the country.

"He said a lot of soldiers, they don't want to die, especially when they see someone dying in front of him," the Times quoted Tarek Hassoun as saying.

But Tarek Hassoun vehemently disagrees with the implication that ran through the Times article. He gave a different version of the conversation when contacted by the Deseret Morning News Wednesday.

"I don't know where this guy got what he said," he added.

The actual conversation between the cousins happened around January, when Wassef Hassoun was about to go to his second deployment in Iraq. Tarek Hassoun asked Wassef Hassoun how it was going, and the Marine said things were hard overseas.

"All he said is, like he's a tough guy," Tarek Hassoun said. "He's not like the people that are going out, like paying money to Iraqis to go out."

"I was misquoted. The way I said it was changed 180 degrees."