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Character-building Pine Crest Preparatory School, from which 16-year-old Farris Hassan cut classes for 15 minutes of Andy Warhol fame in Iraq, is still fielding media calls from all over the world. You can tell it’s been a long 15 minutes when you talk to the polite school spokesperson who gets to field these calls. "The story is not going to die away very quickly," the spokesperson told canadafreepress.com yesterday. Almost three months after the Schoolboy Prank That Wasn’t, Farris Hassan is back in class none the worse for wear after undisclosed penalties meted out by a conduct review committee.

Remember the storya couple weeks ago about the high school student that just flew to Iraq to see what was going on? Well it was a lie. His father is a criminal expelled from Florida, US living in Iraq that sent letter to school before leaving to allow the time off. From Kuwaitt he helped his son get into Iraq and meet with Hamas and other terrorist leaders. Seems our mainstream presented us a complete lie - I wonder what he brought back since PS would not allow checking his luggage on return. Rodges show will have links up soon....

Sometimes a story just doesn't seem to be "all there." Cinnamon Stillwell suspected as much in a NewsBusters item on January 10: Call me overly suspicious, but the story of 16-year-old Farris Hassan traveling to Iraq on a whim strikes me as unbelievable. Hassan's interview with Rita Cosby of MSNBC, a Florida newspaper columnist's skepticism, and a January 18 posting by the Northeast Intelligence Network (NIN), which describes itself as "a small contingent of experienced investigators ..... founded by veteran private investigator Douglas J. Hagmann," all appear to confirm Stillwell's suspicions. What is known of Farris Hassan's saga at this...

Farris Hassan: Journalist or Jihadist?By Joe Kaufman and Beila Rabinowitz, PipeLineNews.org January 16, 2006 - Miami, FL - PipeLineNews.org - The AP story was splashed all over the papers and television - 'U.S. Teen Runs Off to Iraq by Himself.' On the internet, people playfully compared his saga to the 80's comedy hit 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off.' Farris Hassan was the talk and toast of the entire country, "...a young man who feels guilty about the comfort he enjoys, who is brilliant but foolhardy, a boy brimming with idealism and the desire to make a difference." This is the way...

Call me overly suspicious, but the story of 16-year-old Farris Hassan traveling to Iraq on a whim strikes me as unbelievable. The Florida teen of Iraqi descent was all over the news in December when he apparently took off without telling his family and headed to Iraq to see what all the fuss was about. Hassan was able to finance his plane ticket to Kuwait with money he earned trading stocks on the Internet. All the media coverage portrayed Hassan as a naïve young man who simply wanted to, in his own words, "experience…the same hardships ordinary Iraqis experience everyday."...

The Florida teen who sneaked off to Iraq over winter break also finagled a sitdown in Lebanon with a big shot from Hezbollah, one of the Mideast's top terrorist organizations. "I had to travel through alleyways and I finally walked - this was in the southern Shiite section of Beirut, the poorest section. So walking through alleyways, going up crooked staircases with bullet holes in the walls. And there was no sign saying, this is the Hezbollah office, of course not," Farris Hassan tells MSNBC's Rita Cosby in an interview airing tonight. A sheepish Farris, 16, also tells Cosby he's...

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....

Fort Lauderdale teen rests from Iraq trip, promises to share details By Tonya Alanez, Sallie James and Jamie Malernee Staff Writers January 2, 2006, 6:06 PM EST Crossing a busy street to speak briefly with the media isn't always the safest thing, but for a teenager who spent a portion of his holiday break alone in Baghdad, it was a comparatively safe trip in the name of politeness. Farris Hassan, the Fort Lauderdale 16-year-old whose solo trip to Iraq stunned his family, made a brief statement to reporters Monday afternoon, promising more comprehensive comments Tuesday evening and saying little else....

MIAMI - A 16-year-old who took off to Iraq alone to experience the lives of its people firsthand arrived back in Florida on Sunday, ending a three-week Middle East odyssey — much to the relief of his parents. Farris Hassan, who said it all started out as a personal journalism project, was getting a crash course in media as throngs of reporters and photographers waited for him at Miami International Airport. He smiled and gave a thumbs up before joining his family in a waiting car. "I do want to tell you how flattered I am. The media has been...

Iraqis listen to the sermon of a cleric during Friday prayers at Immam Hussein Ali shrine in Kerbala, 110 km (68 miles) south of Baghdad, December 30, 2005. Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite politician met the country's Kurdish president at a lakeside retreat on Thursday to sketch out plans for a grand coalition government capable of ending violent sectarian unrest. (REUTERS/Mushtaq Mohamad)

Most mothers would love the idea of a teenage son who enjoys debating and reading, rather chasing girls and staying out late with friends. But one idealistic 16-year old has invented a new way for recalcitrant children to worry their mothers to distraction after he went to Baghdad alone in the name of cutting-edge journalism. Armed with only an Arabic phrase book and some cash, Farris Hassan can count himself lucky to be alive after a series of adventures involving desert taxis and frantic phone calls. Hassan, a 16-year-old from Florida, hopped on a flight without his parent's permission and...

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Excerpts from an essay written recently by Farris Hassan, 16, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who traveled to Iraq without telling his parents: There is a struggle in Iraq between good and evil, between those striving for freedom and liberty and those striving for death and destruction. You are aware of the heinous acts of the terrorists: Women and children massacred, innocent aid workers decapitated, indiscriminate murder. You are also aware of the heroic aspirations of the Iraqi people: liberty, democracy, security, normality. Those terrorists are not human but pure evil. For their goals to be thwarted, decent...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Dec. 30) - 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... ...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...

Did anyone catch the interview by Jim Angle of the two wounded soldiers from Iraq? These people were amazing. I was so stirred by their comments of pride in our country, of wanting to go back, of knowing we are doing the right thing, of never doubting the mission, of support of the Iraqi people....if you can catch the rerun at 11, please do. It was emotional, patriotic and remarkable! Between this interview and the remarks of Farris Hassan, Florida student, who swore to kiss the ground of America when he returns because he realizes how sweet this country is,...

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 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...

Farris Hassan’s not-so-excellent adventure U.S. teen goes to Iraq to see ‘struggle between good and evil’ By Jason Straziuso The Associated Press Updated: 6:55 p.m. ET Dec. 29, 2005 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...

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. Hassan's dangerous...