Secret Trip to Iraq, by a 16 year old

Post by **halfnhalf** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 9:06 pm

http://www.kstp.com/article/stories/S13090.html?cat=1

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A 16-year-old from Florida who traveled to Iraq on his own without telling his parents was put on a flight home Friday, the U.S. Embassy said, while warning Americans of the dangers of undertaking similar journeys.

Farris Hassan, of Fort Lauderdale, had been under the care of the U.S. Embassy after being on his own in Iraq for several days.

"I am very pleased to announce that the young American citizen who has been in Iraq the past few days has now safely departed Baghdad, and this young American is now on his way back home to his family in the United States," Consul General Richard B. Hermann said.

Hermann reiterated warnings by the State Department and embassy against traveling to Iraq and said Americans in Iraq should register their presence. Forty American citizens have been kidnapped since the war started in March 2003, of which 10 have been killed, a U.S. official said. About 15 remain missing.

The U.S. Embassy had no immediate information about Hassan's flight, but his mother, Shatha Atiya, said she was happy to hear of his departure.

"I'm going to hug him. He's my little angel," she said Friday. "I'm exhausted, I'm very anxious. I'm grateful he's out of Iraq."

Hassan, a junior at Pine Crest School, a prep academy of about 700 students in Fort Lauderdale, recently studied immersion journalism - a writer who lives the life of his subject in order to better understand it.

The teenager, whose parents were born in Iraq but have lived in the United States for about 35 years, says he wanted to travel to Baghdad to better understand what Iraqis are living through.

"I thought I'd go the extra mile for that, or rather, a few thousand miles," he told The Associated Press in an interview earlier this week.

Skipping a week of school, he left the country on Dec. 11, telling only two high school friends of his plans. His travels took him to Kuwait and Lebanon before he arrived in Iraq on Christmas Day. He left without telling his family and sent an e-mail after his departure, Atiya said.

"He is very idealistic. He has many convictions. He is very pro-democracy, very compassionate, always helping out others, he's very driven," Atiya said. "Those are more characteristics of Farris than adventurous. This is the first adventure he's been on."

The teen traveled to Kuwait, where a taxi dropped him in the desert at the Iraq border, but he could not cross there because of tightened security ahead of the Iraqi parliamentary elections on Dec. 15. He went to Beirut, Lebanon, to stay with family friends, and flew from there to Baghdad.

After his second night in Baghdad, he contacted the AP and said he had come to do research and humanitarian work. The AP called the U.S. Embassy, which sent U.S. soldiers to pick him up.

State Department officials then notified his parents.

Atiya said she has a 60-year-old brother in Iraq, but that she had refused when her son recently pestered her for his number. She said she offered to take her son to Iraq later, when tensions eased.

"I thought that would be sufficient for him, but he took it upon himself to do this adventure. He has a lot of confidence, but I never thought he would be able to pull this together," she said.

Hassan does not speak Arabic and has no experience in war zones, but he wanted to find out what life was like there.

Atiya said her son is studious, works on the school newspaper and is on the debate team. He is a member of a Republican Party club at school who spends his time reading, rather than socializing, his mother said.

When school officials learned of Hassan's trip, they threatened to expel him, but Atiya and Hassan's father, Redha Hassan, a physician, persuaded officials to allow him to remain, Atiya said. It was not immediately clear why they wanted to expel him.

Julie Schiedegger, who teaches English at Pine Crest, said Friday that she learned Hassan was headed to Iraq about two weeks ago when she overheard some students talking about it.

"He is very bright, friendly, respectful, just a good kid," she said.

Michael Buckwald, a 17-year-old classmate, said Hassan immerses himself in subjects that he likes and was opinionated in class.

"He always struck me as a very intellectual person. He's very outspoken at the same time," Buckwald said.

Hassan is the youngest of Atiya's four children. The others are enrolled at universities.

Aside from the research he wanted to accomplish, he also wrote in an essay saying he wanted to volunteer in Iraq.

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.

Hassan told AP he understood how dangerous his trip was. He'd said that his plans on his return to Florida were to "kiss the ground and hug everyone."
---
Associated Press writers Denise Kalette, Damian Grass and Kelli Kennedy contributed to this report from Florida.

Post by **Killfile** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 9:43 pm

What an unbelievable fucktard. Jumping a jet to I-fucking-raq without telling his parents? What did he think would happen?

Idiot.

Pitty he wasn't shot. Would have been a sure-fire darwin award and cleaned up the gene pool for the rest of us.

This about clears up any doubt that I had that this latest generation is too stupid to live.

Post by **LordMune** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 9:50 pm

...
Buz?!

Post by **Loeviz** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 9:52 pm

A real dumb ass to keep it short

Post by **Eldo** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 9:57 pm

He's a member of the Republican Party school club?

Fuck.

Post by **halfnhalf** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 10:47 pm

You say he is a dumbass, but hell the kid now is national news, and will most likely score a top seat reporting job before i get out of college.

he had balls, he was a dumbass, and it seemed he wanted to do it for a reason.

Post by **Eldo** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 10:52 pm

Publicity stunt.

Post by **halfnhalf** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 11:12 pm

Eldo wrote:Publicity stunt.

and we all deep down inside wish we were the ones to think of it first...

Post by **Killfile** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 1:27 am

halfnhalf wrote:
Eldo wrote:Publicity stunt.
and we all deep down inside wish we were the ones to think of it first...

The hell we do! It is the policy of the United States military to TARGET rogue transmissions in Iraq. Now admittedly, the kid probably wasn't carrying satellite gear, but when Journalists under the protection of the United States are getting picked off left and right (more have been killed in Iraq thus far than were killed in ALL of the Vietnam war) and those not under US protection are considered fair game for US troops, warplanes, etc -- I for one do not want to be the "first to think of it."

The kid is lucky to be alive.

Post by **Libaax** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 1:50 am

Puclicity isn't worth dying for.....

Lucky for him he was an arab,if he wasn't he wouldn't be back home now.

Post by **halfnhalf** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 2:34 am

Libaax wrote:Puclicity isn't worth dying for.....

thats bs... People want to be known, people what to famous, they want those 15 minutes of fame. Publicity is worth dying for.

Post by **Femto** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 2:37 am

halfnhalf wrote:thats bs... People want to be known, people what to famous, they want those 15 minutes of fame. Publicity is worth dying for.

That's a really stupid generalization.

Most people are content with making it through the day alive and with food on the table.

Don't let yourself be brainwashed by television and their celebrity bullshit.

Post by **halfnhalf** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 2:46 am

Femto wrote:
halfnhalf wrote:thats bs... People want to be known, people what to famous, they want those 15 minutes of fame. Publicity is worth dying for.
That's a really absurd generalization.

Most people are content with making it through the day alive and with food on the table.

Don't let yourself be brainwashed by television and their celebrity bullshit.

But isnt almost each person's ideal to leave the world known? You do want to remembered right? and if you are gonna go out, might as well go out with a bang.

Post by **Femto** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 3:10 am

halfnhalf wrote:But isnt almost each person's ideal to leave the world known? You do want to remembered right? and if you are gonna go out, might as well go out with a bang.

What are you talking about?

You'd rather be known for a couple of months and die than to live a rich and fulfilling life?

Stop watching so much mainstream television man, it's making you talk stupid.

Post by **Killfile** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 4:29 am

Sure - I want to leave a leagacy behind me, but I want that legacy to be one of accomplishments, intellect, and integrity.

In short, I want to leave my legacy in such a way that high school students are forced to read about me.

What I don't want is for my legacy to consist of a conversation that includes the phrase "and that rust colored stain on THAT wall is all that's left of that stupid American journalist who got hit by a smart bomb"

Fame and fortune are great - but only if you're alive to enjoy and spend it.

Post by **Laik** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 8:58 am

I've read stories ranging from "Man, the kid should get an award!" to "My son is over there fighting for his life... If that boy wanted to go so bad then he should enlist."

Personally, I really don't care for real. I'm glad the guy came back safe and what not but this isn't news for real. It didn't make a difference and the only thing that changed is probably that guy's grade for missing a week out of school.

The only thing to highlight about this is the fact that it could have turned out a whole lot worse.