Fort Lauderdale teen runs off to Iraq to see 'struggle between good ...

[sabra]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-1229iraqteen,0,994972.story?page=1&coll=sfla-home-headlines

Fort Lauderdale teen runs off to Iraq to see 'struggle between good and evil'

By Jason Straziuso
The Associated Press

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 Fort Lauderdale, 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.

read the whole story if you can, it's pretty wild stuff...

[FlemingsGhost]

1. Master Hassan didn't need to go to Iraq to see the struggle ...

the struggle is right there within himself. Within us all. Perhaps he discovered that on his pilgrimage.

[Stand and Fight]

2. That kid is a fucking idiot.

I read the whole article, and I am surprised that someone could be so fucking stupid... :wtf: He's very lucky to be alive. I won't even go into the silly shit he had to say about good versus evil and terrorist. What an absolute moron. He's surely a Bush-bot with that shit dripping from his tongue.

[ddeclue]

17. DARWIN AWARD CANDIDATE... DING DING DING DING DING

[Stand and Fight]

19. I had not thought of that...

He is definitely a candidate for that. In fact, I think he'd be among the finalist. :evilgrin:

[annabanana]

3. dumb stupid fuckwit

How many people had to do risky things to get him the hell outof there?

[Walt Starr]

4. He didn';t just drink the Koolaide

He had it force fed his entire life!

[Stand and Fight]

6. Would you believe there's a thread that thinks he's great?

Someone actually referred to this idiot kid as "One Great American." Oh good grief... :eyes:
He's an inconsiderate and idiotic little shit -- the only thing great about him is his lack of forethought. Can you believe he repeated the good versus evil bullshit, Walt?

EDIT TO ADD LINK:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2011849

[Divernan]

5. His Iraqi born Mom is a psychologist; daddy's a doctor - rotten parents

You gotta read this whole story to see how screwed up and spoiled rotten and arrogant and just plain stupid this kid is. But Mom and Dad, who gave the kid the several thousand dollars he used to finance this trip - are still praising him as idealistic. They send him to a private academy, and have evidently totally convinced him this war is a fight for the grand ideals of democracy. Meanwhile, the kid, who describes himself as non-religious, has stayed out all night talking politics with men at a Florida mosque. Either he lies his head off to his parents and they are stupid enough to believe him, or they just don't give a shit where he is or what he does - until the reporters come knocking at the door.

[bpilgrim]

9. sounds like his family has a very strong connection to iraq

and their young son an interest in journalism.

where do you get 'rotten parents' from :shrug:

peace

[Divernan]

11. They didn't know significant facts about their son; put him in danger.

From what I read, the parents of this non-religious young man did not know he stayed up/out all night at a mosque talking to Allah knows what kind of extremist Muslims (I mean - what kind of responsible adult males would allow/encourage a teenage boy who did not belong to their mosque to stay there ALL NIGHT talking to them - those all night "church" sessions are brainwashing, whether they occur at evangelical youth retreats or a mosque. I say any parents who allow their teenager to stay out all night under such conditions, or not knowing what he was really doing are rotten parents. If the kid was lying to them, this wouldn't have been the first time, and they evidently are bright enough to have figured this out, if they CARED to. A second big red warning flag that rotten parents are in charge is giving a 16 year old such unlimited funds. So he had some $2,000 in "walking around" money? ($900 for the airfare; another $600 spent on taxis; plus travel costs, food and lodging) The parents were asking for trouble by giving this particular boy that kind of cash. The most outrageous indicator of what lousy parents they are is that his mother is a psychologist! ! ! So she's professionally trained to advise other people on how to have healthy relationships with their family members - but her son gets into an extremely deadly situation right under her nose. Then the icing on this nightmarish cake, is that when the kid finally calls home and tells Mumsy and Poppa where he is, and they order him to come right home, he ignores them for another week or more. They clearly have some control issues in this dysfunctional family.

[No Exit]

13. Amazing, isn't it? He sounds like Elizabeth Smart, but with more money

Yeah. $2000 in "walking around" money. Puh-leeze.

Even if I had fucking Dick Cheney's bank account, I wouldn't give my kid that much money for NOTHING. A kid his age can try EARNING the stuff.

[bpilgrim]

21. what do you put ankle bracelets on your kids?

or don't you have any?

give me a break, the kid has a lot of heart and idealism.

peace

[peekaloo]

7. Farris Hassan's Day Off. nt

[sniffa]

12. ..

:rofl:

[FlemingsGhost]

8. We'll still be in Iraq in two years ... I'm sure Hassan will enlist.

He can write for Stars and Stripes.

:eyes:

[Straight Shooter]

10. How much of our taxpayer $$$ are being spent to babysit this brat? n/t

[kevinbgoode]

14. Stupid kid.

And just how arrogant is this child who apparently doesn't realize how many of our soldiers he put in harm's way just to look after his naive little "vacation?"

Frankly, I think the government should hand his family a nice fat bill.

[soothsayer]

15. Who knew you could catch a flight to Iraq just like that? Damn!

On edit: read the article. Strange thing to do. Stupid? Gutsy? Dunno. Bizarre!

[Cleita]

16. Wow, and she could have gone to Washington and

seen the real thing, especially when Cindy Sheehan was there.

[proud patriot]

18. what a trip

didn't even tell his parents ...:wow:

[LuCifer]

20. Oh gawd...

...now I remember why I moved out of The World's Toliet, aka South FloriDUH...jesus CHRIST...

Lu

[never_get_over_it]

22. Well at the risk of pissing off Floridians

I moved to central Fl September 04 and I have to say that there are some of the dumbest fucking idiots in the whole world here - I've come to call this the STUPID state

For those of you in FL who are not stupid - I apologize for the generalization. It is born out of a year long frustration of being around some truly stupid people.....

[karlrschneider]

23. I lived in Tampa for 16 years. I do not miss it.

at all.