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Military spokesmen say they were "shocked" by a news report that Utah Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun convinced a military psychologist that he was taken captive by Iraqi militants in June. They say any such leak would violate professional standards.
A CNN "crawler" - the rolling text at the bottom of the television screen - ran at least twice Tuesday, saying "military psychologists who interviewed the Marine 'totally believe' '' Hassoun was kidnapped and held captive for 19 days.
The report was not on the network or its Web site Wednesday.
"Whoever they are, they're talking out of their box and they're not a credible source," Maj. Matt Morgan of Hassoun's 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade (Anti-Terrorism) said Wednesday. "Leaks in this case have been an issue since the very beginning."
Morgan said a legal team is checking into the leak, which he said may have come from the Joint Personnel Repatriation Agency, whose psychologists helped debrief Hassoun.
"That would be the only psychologist that would have actual firsthand access to Corporal Hassoun," Morgan said. He added the psychologists have an ethical duty to keep any communication with a patient confidential.
Medical authorities at Camp Lejeune, N.C., cleared Hassoun for full duty in a motor pool earlier this month. Morgan said Hassoun is pleased to be back at work but is overwhelmed by the continued interest in his ordeal.
"It's difficult when you're trying to move on and you have [ABC's] '20/20' writing you letters," Morgan said. "He doesn't quite understand what is happening to him. He just wants to return to some kind of normal life."
Hassoun was on his second tour in Iraq when he did not report for duty at his base June 20. Marine officials initially speculated about a possible desertion, but the Arabic news network Al-Jazeera showed a photo of him blindfolded, with a sword held above his head.
Internet reports had him beheaded, then alive in a "safe place." Hassoun surfaced July 8 in Beirut, Lebanon, and contacted the U.S. Embassy to pick him up.
Hassoun, who spent August in Utah on a convalescent leave, has denied he willingly left his base in Iraq and has pledged loyalty to the United States and the Marine Corps.
Agents with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service continue to investigate how, as Hassoun said, he was captured near the battleground of Fallujah and ultimately freed in Beirut, a 500-mile trek across Syria.
NCIS agents had an extensive meeting with Hassoun on Sept. 14 and 15, said agency spokesman Paul O'Donnell.
Morgan says the probe should be completed in a few weeks.
Contacted on Wednesday, a family member said any psychologist making contact with Hassoun would know he "is telling the truth."