I'm not buying into this "Teen flies to Iraq" BS

[zbdent]

Look, Bush & Co. are pushing for the renewal of the Patriot Act - make his dictatorial power permanent.

You have a 16 year old kid. A key piece of evidence that he is not "the brightest bulb" is that he gets to the hotel in Baghdad, realizes he's hungry, and goes to get something to eat at "the food market" (radio wording) and asks, in English, for a menu. He and the Iraqi he's dealing with are unable to speak the other's language. This kid never had the idea that, if you go to a foreign country, they might not speak ENGLISH???

So, this kid is apparently so smart that he "outwits" homeland security. Right. He's from Florida - Repuke central, the past few elections. Gotta be a bunch of minimum-wagers hired for security at airports who would just love to pick out a potential terrorist. (Don't let an "age argument" fool you. Right in front of me in 2003, the clerk made the announcement that the people drawn for further review were "purely at random" - and then the first people drawn aside were an Indian mother and her toddler.)

As much as the righties bluster about how their hands are tied "being PC", they're still "profiling". A young Middle-eastern looking kid, idealistic, hands you a passport with an "Arabic" sounding name - Hassan - and you just let him go? (A quote from the mother said that he would be punished by having some restrictions, one of which was that his PASSPORT WOULD BE TAKEN AWAY).

Then, the Mother says that the first time she heard of him being over there was an e-mail which said, essentially, "HI! I'm in Kuwait!" - must not bother her much that her 16 year old son is taking international flights . . .

I guess that this kid apparently never went to a library or saw a movie with Susan Sarandon . . . with a name like that, how is it that a US Senator gets strip-searched at the airport while a middle-eastern looking kid with an "Arabic" name gets a free pass?

This is going to be Faux's and RusHannity's new "coffee lawsuit", paraded around for renewal of stricter measures - but you've got reason to believe that this was all planned out . . .

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

1. You have some good points ...

[zbdent]

3. Hey! I told you not to make fun of

my head! ;)

[rpannier]

2. I want to know how a minor got on the palne in the first place.

Usually you need an adult at the counter with you.

[zbdent]

4. DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING!

There's another good point . . .

[rpannier]

10. Here you go

http://www.independenttraveler.com/resources/article.cfm?AID=203&category=11

Anyone under age 17 who is flying alone on an international flight must have a signed note from a parent or responsible adult giving permission, destination and length of stay.

Minors must be met at the destination by another parent or responsible adult.

[lakemonster11]

7. No you don't.

I flew several times by myself when I was a teenager. I was a couple of years younger than this guy.

[rpannier]

8. I think the TSA rules require minors to have approval from an adult ot fly

I think it's one of those post 9/11 restrictions. I have two daughters and when they fly to visit their grandparents Korea to the US, they must have an adult present at the ticket counter with them to show they can get on the plane.
An addition:
Anyone under age 17 who is flying alone on an international flight must have a signed note from a parent or responsible adult giving permission, destination and length of stay.

Minors must be met at the destination by another parent or responsible adult.


source:
http://www.independenttraveler.com/resources/article.cfm?AID=203&category=11

[lakemonster11]

17. Then he probably just forged the note.

Thanks for the link---I couldn't find any information.

[rpannier]

20. Then who met him at the airport in Asia?

According to the site he must be met by someone.

[lakemonster11]

21. The flight attendants probably didn't pay any attention.

I mean, he's 16, not 6. The article said he had a "wispy beard."

But I don't really know how the system works or how strictly the airlines follow the policies.

[AZBlue]

28. Exactly. And if he booked it as an adult fare they wouldn't know

unless they caught it when they were checking his passport. This was the week before Christmas, when they were busy.

[calico1]

14. Was it an international flight?

I remember flying alone as a teen years ago but on domestic flights.

[non sociopath skin]

5. When my wife travels with me to and from the US, we ALWAYS get pulled ...

... I have a Brit passport in my "English" name: Mrs. Skin, though resident in the UK, retains her American passport in her birth name (which is also her nom de plume). And her surname just happens, though she's jewish, to one which is common to jews and arabs.

FAR too much data for the Boneheads in Homeland Security to deal with. So they just assume we must be terrorists ...

O tempora, o mores.

The Skin

[calico1]

6. I so agree.

This whole story really stinks to me.

[lakemonster11]

9. "must not bother her much that her 16

year old son is taking international flights..."

It says in the article that she was freaked out. She tried to make him come home. She says that he showed a complete lack of judgment and will be in a great deal of trouble when he gets home.

The whole story is bizarre and, if it's true, he is an naive idiot.

[zbdent]

11. He's gonna have a great career at Faux . . .

``There is a struggle in Iraq between good and evil, between those striving for freedom and liberty and those striving for death and destruction,''

Sounds like their kind of reporting . . .

[Ian David]

12. I have a feeling "Group W" is behind this story. n/t

[Clark2008]

13. My son is half Arabic and he wasn't pulled out

when we flew to London.

Oddly, however, he WAS pulled out when we flew from Nashville to Newark. He was 3 years old at the time.

My last name isn't Arabic anymore since I went back to my maiden name after my divorce, but my son's name sure is.

I think Farris Hassan could easily have flown. The airlines don't call the parents if the kid is over 12 because airlines let passengers over 12 fly without adult supervision.

Now - as far as the rest of the story is concerned - yes, it sounds like Freeper spin, of course.


Edited to add: My son, btw, has the same first name AS a real-life terrorist, although it's spelled differently because we "Americanized" it. Just more background. :)

[DrDan]

15. I'm with you and thought the same thing as I saw that Mother

interviewed this morning.

Something is fishy here.

[warrior1]

16. I didn't buy

when I first read it either. Smells rovian to me.

[Bonobo]

18. It's Jessica Lynch rehashed... Read this crap:

"But underneath that Mideast veneer was full-blooded American teen, a born-and-bred Floridian sporting white Nike tennis shoes and trendy jeans. And as soon as the lanky, 6-foot teenager opened his mouth -- he speaks no Arabic -- his true nationality would have betrayed him.

Traveling on his own in a land where insurgents and jihadists have kidnapped more than 400 foreigners, killing at least 39 of them, Hassan walked straight into a death zone. On Monday, his first full day in Iraq, six vehicle bombs exploded in Baghdad, killing five people and wounding more than 40."

It's so obvious that this is propogandist bullshit. "Full-blooded American", hah! They really think people are stupid. If this kid had really done this, ge would probably be in Gitmo or some other of our torture facilities now. I hardly think we would use our soldiers to go outlooking for the poor little tyke.

[Javaman]

24. Wasn't there an article just yesterday saying the U.S. gov't will

start hiring people to write pro iraqi stories?

[Maeve]

19. Sounds like he lucked out of being a Darwin Award candidate

The most dangerous words--"Watch what I can do!"

[spooky3]

37. good one!

[Scout1071]

22. My question is where did he get the money and how did he book the flight?

You must have a credit card to book a flight. The only other way that I know of is to pay in cash or check at the airline counter in advance. That should be enough to flag him right there.

[karynnj]

41. He attends an exclusive prep school per the news

he also has an investment account that he managed.

[NoFederales]

23. How common is it for 16 yr olds to have passports? You need one to

leave the country, right? This is a paper trail to follow, as well as the money involved, if anyone wants to dig into it.

NoFederales

[lakemonster11]

33. I'm sure it's not all that common, but if his family ever left

the country for any reason in the past couple of years, he would have one. As an apparently well-off couple with ties to foreign countries, they would probably be more likely than most Americans to have passports.

Besides, a sixteen-year old doesn't need parental permission to get a passport.

[karynnj]

42. My kids have had passports since they were young.

This would be very normal for someone in what is obviously in his social strata.

What makes less sense is that on the news, he emailed his dad from Kuwait when he couldn't get in because the border was closed because of the election. His dad had family friends help him.

[Javaman]

25. Here's the give away folks...

"His mother, Shatha Atiya, said her son is studious, works on the school newspaper and is on the debate team. He is a member of a Republican Party club at school. Meanwhile, he spends his time reading, rather than socializing, his mother said."

> that is interesting now isn't it?

also

Using money his parents had given him, he bought a $900 plane ticket and took off from school a week before Christmas vacation started, skipping classes and leaving the country on Dec. 11.

> so his parents gave him a roll of dough? and they don't talk to their son the week before coming home on vacation? christian or no christian, with a son in highschool away from home, usually, most normal parents are talking with them up till the day before the son comes home. something very very weird going on here.

and

Given his heritage, Hassan could almost pass as Iraqi. His father’s background helped him secure an entry visa, and native Arabs would see in his face Iraqi features and a familiar skin tone. His wispy beard was meant to help him blend in.

> How does ones father's background allow for a son to get a visa without that same fathers permission????? That is the one that stinks to high heaven. This is the one that set off my bullshit alert to 11.

My vote on this story: bullshit propaganda.

[Thorandmjolnir]

27. If is propaganda, which it might very well be,

then I think it backfired big time, because it more than anything, clearly exposed just how dangerous Iraq is for every body.

This whole story shoots down any notion of progress or security in Iraq.

[AZBlue]

30. Actually those points are believable.

Giving a kid lots of cash and not being in constant communication with them?? Happens all the time. Called parenting by bank account. Not advocating it, but it is a reality.

And, if the father is an Iraqi citizen, then the children are also considered Iraqi citizens. A visa to travel would be easy to obtain. A 16 year old male in Iraq wouldn't be considered a child and could do whatever he wanted.

[lakemonster11]

32. Especially if he told a simple lie,

like, "I'm going to Jimmy's cabin with him and his family for the weekend." That would give him three days to get to the middle east before he had to call and confess.

[Neil Lisst]

26. Absolutely! Put on your waders. It's getting deep!

Of all the bullshit stories they've thrown out, this one is the most ridiculous. A 16 year old boy who looks like he could be mistaken for an Islamic terrorist just travels to Baghdad and no one anywhere in the US government raises an eyebrow.

Meanwhile, back home, they're visiting teenagers who write anti-war poetry.

Someone created this story. The boy's family is in on it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. minor going to a war zone, yeah right

with no parental permision no less

I'll buy the myriad of American kids who go every weekend to Tijuana to get drunk, but interaational travel requires things like oh parental permision... yep this is a plant folks

[AZBlue]

31. He doesn't give a favorable view of his experiences or the situation there

So why would this be considered propaganda?

[Hello_Kitty]

39. Who's looking unfavorable there?

He described bombing by insurgents. I didn't hear any criticism of our people. Not that I'm saying there should have been but it seemed propaganda-ish to me when I just watched his mom and brother (?) interviewed on CNN.

[AZBlue]

40. I want to read his whole essay - what he wrote after going/coming back

We've only seen an excerpt from the beginning - the very idealistic part that was written before he left. I think that would be most telling and might answer this question. I'm actually suspicious that we haven't been allowed to see that part - I was thinking that meant he had a tale the Bush Administration might not want published. I don't know - hard to say now - he does talk about insurgents, but he also paints a scary situation there, not all rosy as they'd have us believe. Hopefully we'll hear the rest of his story and then we'll have a better idea. (and I didn't see an interview on CNN - maybe that would change my feelings)

[acmavm]

34. Kid must have one hell of a paper route to be able to afford the airfare.

.

[USA_1]

35. A question

Since the kid is 16 years old, as a minor, isn't his passport supposed to be signed by a parent or guardian? If so, how did he manage to get on an international flight without their consent (assuming they did not know he was going as has been reported)?

Something sounds fishy.

[SillyGoose]

36. Yeah, something is just not sitting well with me either.

A minor is supposed to have parental permission to travel internationally, right? The airline would have known his age since he would have had to show ID at check-in. Did he show the airline personnel a forged note from his parents? There is no mention of how this kid managed to get on a plane by himself.

But, this is the stuff that made me do a double take on the whole incident....

The father did not demand the kid return home right away.

The boy's father, Dr. Redha Hassan, told The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel that after Farris failed to cross into Iraq, he told his son he would arrange for security to accompany the teen once the Iraq border opened.

Hassan said if he had demanded his son come home, "it would leave a scar, disappointing him in his young life," according to the newspaper.

"I learned long ago that if you say no, they stick to the point and insist on doing it," he told the newspaper. "Nothing fazed him."

and the mother faxed him stuff to get a visa:

After his arrival, Atiya said she received an e-mail from her son, saying, "I'll be in Iraq for a while," but he did not say how he planned to cross into the country.

At his request, Atiya said she faxed documents to help him secure a visa, and after researching the fax number, she discovered he was in Kuwait.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/30/teen.iraq/index.html

[ddeclue]

38. He ought to know that much just living in Fort Lauderdale.

There are many places where Spanish is an absolute requirement, Hialeah for instance...

Doug D.
Orlando, FL (formerly of Ft. Lauderdale)