U.S. alters missing Marine's status...

[Media_Lies_Daily]

<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-06-29-missing-marine_x.htm>

"WEST JORDAN, Utah — A Marine missing in Iraq and shown on TV blindfolded by armed captors has been reclassified as 'captured,' his commanders said Tuesday."

....snip...

"Hassoun, 24, an Arabic translator in the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, disappeared June 19-20. His captors, who have threatened to kill him unless U.S. forces release jailed Iraqi prisoners, claim they lured him away from his base in Iraq. Military officials had suggested Hassoun had left on his own in an 'unauthorized absence.'

In a statement Tuesday, the Marine command said that while Hassoun's absence 'initially prompted investigators to believe he was missing, the video shown on international television depicted the Marine being held against his will by masked captors.'"

Looks like an earlier attempt by the NY Times using unnamed military sources to smear this Marine, one who also happens to be a Muslim, as AWOL or going over to the "other side", has failed.