Hassoun brother says Marines biased

Anti-Muslim bias prompted military officials to treat Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, an AWOL Marine charged with desertion, more harshly than others, his brother said in an interview with The Associated Press.

The pressure of the charge filed against the Lebanese-born, naturalized American citizen, coupled with a fierce argument with his newlywed wife the day he was to return to his base, drove Hassoun to flee, said his brother, Mohamad Hassoun.

Neither Mohamad Hassoun nor military officials know where the younger Hassoun is. He failed to return to Camp Lejeune, N.C., on Jan. 5 — the second time the Marines have deemed him a deserter.

"Instead of them giving him medals and making him feel good about his service and what he was doing for his country, they gave him an Article 32," Hassoun said of the military court proceedings that are on hold against his brother until he is found.

"I think there is some kind of bias, yes. I can't prove it but we feel it," he said.

Mohamad Hassoun believes his brother's claim that he was kidnapped in Iraq last summer and held against his will before being released. And, after reading the Marines' 3-inch desertion case against his brother, Hassoun said the charges are built on hearsay.

"They have no evidence whatsoever," he said. "They have nothing."

He said thousands of deserters have gone AWOL but haven't shown up on the Naval Criminal Investigative Services' most wanted list like his brother.

All five people currently being sought by the military and featured on the NCIS Web site are charged with desertion.

"That is a ridiculous allegation," said Maj. Matt Morgan, a spokesman for the Camp Lejeune-based 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade. "We have a number of Marines who are serving who are Muslim or of Arab dissent."

Morgan said any action being taken against Hassoun is based solely on evidence, not religion.

Mohamad Hassoun declined to say whether he has spoken to his brother after the 25-year-old soldier failed to return to Camp Lejeune early last month after an authorized leave.

"I would not like to talk about that," he said.

He'd rather talk about the Hassoun family's history in America, going back to 1910 when he said his great-grandfather processed through Ellis Island.