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| U.S. Teen Runs Off to Iraq by Himself |
| 2005-12-30 |
| EFL BAGHDAD, Iraq - Maybe it was the time the taxi dumped him at the Iraq-Kuwait border, leaving him alone in the middle of the desert. Or when he drew a crowd at a Baghdad food stand after using an Arabic phrase book to order. Or the moment a Kuwaiti cab driver almost punched him in the face when he balked at the $100 fare. But at some point, Farris Hassan, a 16-year-old from Florida, realized that traveling to Iraq by himself was not the safest thing he could have done with his Christmas vacation. And he didn't even tell his parents. Hassan's dangerous adventure winds down with the 101st Airborne delivering the Fort Lauderdale teen to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, which had been on the lookout for him and promises to see him back to the United States this weekend. It begins with a high school class on "immersion journalism" and one overly eager _ or naively idealistic _ student who's lucky to be alive after going way beyond what any teacher would ask. Hassan, whose parents were born in Iraq but have lived in the United States for about 35 years, hung out at a local mosque. The teen, who says he has no religious affiliation, added that he even spent an entire night until 6 a.m. talking politics with a group of Muslim men. The next trimester his class was assigned to choose an international topic and write editorials about it, Hassan said. He chose the Iraq war and decided to practice immersion journalism there, too, though he knows his school in no way endorses his travels. Using money his parents had given him at one point, he bought a $900 plane ticket and took off from school a week before Christmas vacation started, skipping classes and leaving the country on Dec. 11. Hassan's extra-mile attitude took him east through eight time zones, from Fort Lauderdale to Kuwait City. His plan was to take a taxi across the border and ultimately to Baghdad _ an unconventional, expensive and utterly dangerous route. He again called his father, who told him to come home. But the teen insisted on going to Baghdad. His father advised him to stay with family friends in Beirut, Lebanon, so he flew there, spending 10 days before flying to Baghdad on Christmas. Dangerous and dramatic, Hassan's trip has also been educational. He had tea with Kuwaitis under a tent in the middle of a desert. He says he interviewed Christians in south Lebanon. And he said he spoke with U.S. soldiers guarding his Baghdad hotel who told him they are treated better by Sunni Arabs _ the minority population that enjoyed a high standing under Saddam Hussein and are now thought to fuel the insurgency _ than by the majority Shiites. He said he wrote half the essay while in the United States, half in Kuwait, and e-mailed it to his teachers Dec. 15 while in the Kuwait City airport. "There is a struggle in Iraq between good and evil, between those striving for freedom and liberty and those striving for death and destruction," he wrote. "Those terrorists are not human but pure evil. For their goals to be thwarted, decent individuals must answer justice's call for help. Unfortunately altruism is always in short supply. Not enough are willing to set aside the material ambitions of this transient world, put morality first, and risk their lives for the cause of humanity. So I will." "I want to experience during my Christmas the same hardships ordinary Iraqis experience everyday, so that I may better empathize with their distress," he wrote. Farris Hassan says he thinks a trip to the Middle East is a healthy vacation compared with a trip to Colorado for holiday skiing. "You go to, like, the worst place in the world and things are terrible," he said. "When you go back home you have such a new appreciation for all the blessing you have there, and I'm just going to be, like, ecstatic for life." His mother, however, sees things differently. "I don't think I will ever leave him in the house alone again," she said. "He showed a lack of judgment." |
| Posted by:Thong Hupaise2833 |
| #4 I'm not quite so sanguine about the lad's little adventure. Here's a link to exerpts from the essay he wrote, apparently before he left. And the AP story I read in the local paper this morning had him hanging out at the local mosque, talking politics with the attendees, for another little "immersion journalism" project he did just before this one. However, he is apparently on his way home, according to the Associated Press, who believe him to be a good little Young Republican rich kid (Mom gave him a US$10,000 reward for some stock tips that paid off big) whose parents escaped from Iraq long before the spoiled brat was born. Oh dear, I'm afraid my opinion is showing -- so sorry! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-12-30 19:53 |
| #3 This would make a great movie. Better yet lets take Berkly, yup all of it, and dump it on the Kuwait/Iraq border. |
| Posted by: 49 pan 2005-12-30 14:36 |
| #2 Farris Hassan's month off. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2005-12-30 14:05 |
| #1 His mother, however, sees things differently. "I don't think I will ever leave him in the house alone again," she said. "He showed a lack of judgment." But he learned a fu** of a lot. Good on ya Farris. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2005-12-30 13:47 |