| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
|
 Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 8:45 pm Post subject: 16 yr old american travels to baghdad- solo |
 |
|
Well I gotta say, the kid has guts. Wonder about his common sense though.
Hi Mom, I'm in Iraq
| Quote: |
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. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
deessell
Joined: 08 Jun 2005
|
| Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 8:55 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| What do you think the moral of the story is???? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Leslie Cheswyck
Joined: 31 May 2003
Location: University of Western Chile
|
| Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 5:31 am Post subject: |
|
|
Farris "Bueller" Hassan 
| Quote: |
| 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. |
 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
|
| Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 2:57 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| deessell wrote: |
| What do you think the moral of the story is???? |
Circle the correct answer:
(a) the world is safer than we think it is
(b) it was a slow news week for CNN
(c) if you wanna do something, just do it
(d) all of the above
(e) none of the above |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
canuckistan
Mod Team
Joined: 17 Jun 2003
Location: Training future GS competitors.....
|
| Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 3:02 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| He's got some good stories to tell. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
|
| Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 3:13 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| canuckistan wrote: |
| He's got some good stories to tell. |
he took a connecting flight to kuwait and a taxi to the iraqi border. no big deal. shows how easy that could be done.
as for his later trip to baghdad with his family's help - his family are ethnic Iraqi, had migrated to America, so he looks like he fits right in
a 16-year-old blue-eyed blonde doing it would be surprising.
but does anyone actually think it's a war zone 24/7? or even daily everywhere there? CNN distorts perspectives.
it would be way more surprising if he got hurt!!! to me anyways. so he doesn't speak arabic? the locals will just think he's french or other european probably. he was never in any danger of anti-americanism unless he was foolish enough to talk about his trip.
i admire the kid, i disdain how cnn has covered the story, making more of it and being more surprised at it than need be - hype. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
|
| Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 3:20 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| canuckistan wrote: |
| He's got some good stories to tell. |
And lots of press that will lead to a book or movie deal. Best 900$ he ever spent, I bet. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 4:18 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| VanIslander wrote: |
| canuckistan wrote: |
| He's got some good stories to tell. |
he took a connecting flight to kuwait and a taxi to the iraqi border. no big deal. shows how easy that could be done.
as for his later trip to baghdad with his family's help - his family are ethnic Iraqi, had migrated to America, so he looks like he fits right in
a 16-year-old blue-eyed blonde doing it would be surprising.
but does anyone actually think it's a war zone 24/7? or even daily everywhere there? CNN distorts perspectives.
it would be way more surprising if he got hurt!!! to me anyways. so he doesn't speak arabic? the locals will just think he's french or other european probably. he was never in any danger of anti-americanism unless he was foolish enough to talk about his trip.
i admire the kid, i disdain how cnn has covered the story, making more of it and being more surprised at it than need be - hype. |
one of the rare times I agree with you 100% |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
|
| Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2005 3:46 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| A good illustration of why 16 year olds are not allowed to vote, in most places are not allowed to get married without parental consent or sign legal documents. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mr. Pink
Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Location: China
|
| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2006 12:57 am Post subject: |
|
|
| If that was my kid i'd prolly tell him NOT to come home. A kid who is that thoughtless and stupid deserves what he gets. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
|
| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2006 3:14 am Post subject: |
|
|
if he was my kid i'd be concerned on the outside but smiling inside.
there are too many gutless wonders in high school: i want to raise a go-getter.
(is it better to have pothead, cow-tipping beer-guzzling smalltown-minded lads for sons? this describes about one in every three guys that were in my high school)
i'd get him actively involved in some sort of international aid project that structures his efforts and consumes his energies. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
|
| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2006 6:12 am Post subject: |
|
|
Cow-tipping was invented for the movies. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
laogaiguk
Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Location: somewhere in Korea
|
| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2006 6:14 am Post subject: |
|
|
| I would have liked to have the funds at 16 to travel anywhere without my parents knowing! How did he get that kind of money without asking Mom and Dad? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
|
| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2006 6:43 am Post subject: |
|
|
| My guess is he had a credit card. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2006 9:40 am Post subject: |
|
|
| yeah.. and i have a feeling that it isn't going to be "revoked" by his parents either. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
