Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, the West Jordan Marine whose reported capture gripped the world's attention for nearly two weeks, has tense moments but is in good spirits at an American military hospital in Germany.
"Anybody who is coming out of Iraq would have a lot of tense moments," added Marie Shaw, spokeswoman at the big Landstuhl Regional Medical Center near Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany. Hassoun was flown to Landstuhl after he returned to U.S. control in Beirut, Lebanon.
Billing itself as the largest American medical center outside the United States, Landstuhl is where the military takes many rescued hostages or service personnel wounded in the Middle East.
The 24-year-old Marine has been undergoing debriefing at Landstuhl after he was flown there from Lebanon on Friday.
Hassoun was last seen by his command in Iraq on June 19 and did not show up for duty the morning of June 20. At first the Marines listed him as absent without permission. But then a view of the blindfolded corporal was posted by al-Jazeera, with a message from reported captors saying they would behead him unless certain prisoners were released. After that, the Marines changed his status from "missing" to "captured."
Later, someone claiming to represent a radical Islamic group claimed the group had beheaded him. But then the group posted a note saying that was untrue. Someone saying they represented the actual captors said Hassoun would be released unharmed because he promised not to rejoin the military.
On Thursday, Hassoun contacted American officials in Lebanon and arranged for a meeting. From the embassy in Beirut he was flown to Ramstein, then driven to the Landstuhl hospital.
"He's probably going to go back to the U.S. late Tuesday or Wednesday," Shaw said Monday during a telephone interview with the Deseret Morning News.
According to a Marine Corps official in the United States, Hassoun may leave Germany for the home base of his Second Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejune, N.C., "But that could change," said Major Jason Johnston.
Since Hassoun entered the Landstuhl hospital Friday "he has gone through several phases of a repatriation situation," Shaw said. "And he has been in contact with his family.
"And he has been very cooperative with us in the debriefing process. He is accompanied by a chaplain of the Muslim faith."
Asked about his demeanor, she said, "When you come from an area like that, anybody who is coming out of Iraq would have a lot of tense moments. . . . But he's doing OK. He is in good spirits. He is smiling and he's doing well."
Hassoun has lost about 20 pounds.
"He has no indication of torture or indication of beatings," she added.
When he leaves Germany, "We will send him to the closest location where he can receive the best care possible," Shaw said.
Hassoun has access to a telephone and can speak with his family as often, and for as long, as he wishes. He spoke with Utah relatives several times.
The "repatriation" process he is undergoing at Landstuhl has several steps, according to Shaw: a medical exam, speaking with a psychiatrist or psychologist and talking with a chaplain."
E-mail: bau@desnews.com