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                                        ASSOCIATION OF PATRIOTIC ARAB AMERICANS IN MILITARY
                                                                     "Our History Validates Our Presence"

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OPEN LETTER TO MARINE CORPORAL WASSIF ALI HASSOUN

Corporal Wassif Ali Hassoun, please return to Camp Lejeune and face the charges of desertion with honor. I am asking you as a fellow Marine, Arab American, and Muslim American.

You are a Marine first and foremost. The Marine Corps up to this point has treated you with fairness and respect. They have allowed you to remain on your own recognizance since your return to the United States . As a fellow Marine, I urge you to be the Marine and Non-Commissioned Officer that the Marine Corps has taught you to be by exhibiting one of the 14 leadership traits – RESPONSIBILITY. You must be responsible for your actions. You are innocent until proven guilty and the Marine Corps has proven that by keeping you free since your return to the United States . They have allowed you to take 30 days of leave when you returned in July, and they allowed you to see your family over the holiday season. You broke that trust of Responsibility by not showing up at your appointed place of duty on Tuesday January 3^rd, 2005.

The Marine Corps takes care of its own, and throughout your ordeal, the Marine Corps has been taking care of you as one of its own with respect and dignity. The Corps has controlled the media and has kept a lid on your disappearance from Fallujah to Lebanon in hopes that you receive the best and fair trial on the charges you face in the court of law not the court of public opinion.

Never mind the fact that you are an Arab American and a Muslim American who’s actions will affect Marines like me and the countless others who serve in the US Armed Forces – the over 3,500 Arab Americans and over 10,000 Muslim Americans who proudly serve our great country in every climb and place.

There are those in our Arab American Communities who will applaud your actions in defiance of the Administrations Iraq Policy. I want you to remember that it is not our job to analyze or defy policy – it is not for us to question why, but it is for us to do or die.

Come home Marine!

Semper Fidelis,

Jamal S. Baadani

Gunnery Sergeant, USMCR

Arab/Muslim American

www.apaam.org

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