Posted on 01/03/2006 12:09:20 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
It is the kind of thing one might expect of a teenage boy.
Farris Hassan, the 16-year-old Florida youth who traveled to Baghdad over Christmas is back home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., presumably being lectured by his parents about the inadvisability of traveling alone to a war zone.
I have to admit that I kind of admire the kid.
Somehow, he saved up $1,800, finagled a visa to Iraq, flew to Kuwait, tried to take a taxi to Baghdad but was unsuccessful, so he went to Lebanon and, then, flew to Baghdad. All without informing anyone official, like his parents.
Well, he did send an e-mail to his folks from Kuwait, but, as parents of any teenager will tell you, leaving a note is not the same thing as asking for permission.
OK, OK, it was a stupid thing to do. But I kind of admire his moxie, nevertheless.
What Hassan's story also does for me, however, is put the rest of the day's news into some kind of perspective.
One question I have is just how did a 16-year-old boy manage to get into Baghdad, wander around the city alone, order food using an Arabic-English dictionary, how did he manage to do all this without anyone knowing?
It makes me a little less concerned about the threats to my privacy caused by the National Security Agency wiretaps that President Bush insists he has constitutional authority to order. If the government can't even track the movements of a 16-year-old, I'm not sure our nation is heading toward dictatorship.
On the other hand, if the government can't even track the movements of a 16-year-old in the middle of Baghdad - the kid, you may recall, turned himself in to the Associated Press, not to military or civilian authorities - then just what are we getting for all the billions we spend keeping track of one another?
Which reminds me...
The justification President Bush gives for listening in on the telephone calls of American citizens is that the government is only interested in calls from al-Qaida terrorists.
That made sense to me when I first heard it. The more I thought about it, however, the more questions that explanation raised. The main question I have is why, if the government already knows who the terrorists are, so much so that it can trace their telephone calls, why don't we just go in and get the expletives?
After we do that, we can free up our vast spy network for important tasks, like keeping tabs on 16-year-old boys who have a zest for adventure.
Yep, you took the words right outta my mouth.
Nothing like an uninformed columnist.
Another hoax on the MSM. Just like the UMASS kid that said the FBI came after him for buying the Little Red Book.
Yeah right. This from the same people who insist we can not engage in ethnic profiling AFTER 9-11 but at the same time criticize the President for not being aware that when 5 arabs board a plane with one-way tickets after attending flight school to learn only how to fly but not how to take off or land, that he should have anticipated and prevented the plot.
Parents are not living together. Father obtained the visa for the son and connected him with family in Kuwait.
The rest of the story is pure bull, IMHO.
then just what are we getting for all the billions we spend keeping track of one another?
What billions are we spending to keep track of one another?
I think it's nice that the paper gave some print to someone who obviously fell on their head as a child, however, I hope this column isn't a reoccurring thing.
Owl_Eagle(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
Good point, they made it in and are white as ghosts
civil liberties? 16 year olds don't need no stinkin' civil liberties!
The MSM is down on the Patriot Act, down on the NSA, and yet this clown wants Bush to clamp down on the high school and college travelogues? what a dolt.
When I first heard the story, I couldn't help but think that this is type of thing my teenaged daughter would do. I should be grateful that she has settled for a more "civilized" outing next summer - a month in Cairo.
I believe this young man's mom and dad need to acquaint him with the facts of life: use of the car keys is contingent upon appropriate behavior. You want the car or money, then you follow basic rules such as not leaving the country without permission. The car is a powerful motivating factor for a teenager.
I heard the parents bought him a $50k car, I doubt they will take the keys away from him.
And therein lies the problem.
What does a 16 year old need with a $50,000 car? That's just ASKING for trouble
This just may be the best Wisconsin has to offer!
F'ing Idiot. The government doesn't care about the movements of a 16-year-old (although the moron author ignores that the State Dept. had a BOLO out for this idiot kid). The government cares about the movement of terrorists. And their communications, too. That's what we're spending 'billions' on. Not doing the parenting job this 16-year-old's parents aren't doing.
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