I admire what he did but would kill my kid for doing it. Just wondering, is it really that dangerous for any American that everyone was surprised he was alive after a couple of days? We do have some friendly population there I assume, and he barely left the international hotel, plus they let him fly into the country. Are you telling me being there is a sure death sentence for any American?
For an American as stupid as this one, and totally unarmed and unprotected, yes.
I believe you have a point, and I also suspect there's more than a little journalistic hyperbole in this article. One of FR's favorite writers, Mark Steyn, wrote about his visit to Iraq in the aftermath of the invasion and described how he safely and successfully rented a car and drove all over the country by himself.
That said, the kid made plenty of mistakes. It would have been much smarter for him to have entered through Turkey or Jordan into the Kurdish areas first, until he got his bearings and was a bit more familiar with the country. He could possibly have even made a friend of two there who would be willing to accompany him on his travels and help him navigate safely through the culture. Lots of possibilities come to mind. Glad he survived it.