Naive American Teenager "vacationing" in Iraq

Okay...I don't really know what to think about the American kid who went to Iraq, and thought he was going to do some immersion reporting. All I can say, is that this kid is definitely a product of America. I mean, only someone brought up in America would think: hey, let me just fly to Kuwait, take a taxi to Iraq and interview a few people...and um, at age 16. I love the quote from the AP guys, who expressed his reaction when Hassan walked into their Green Zone office and said he wanted to work for them:

"I would have been less surprised if little green men had walked in," said editor Patrick Quinn.

I mean, running away is one thing...not telling your parents about your crazy idea to go to Iraq for a school project. I love the quote from his mom:

"I don't think I will ever leave him in the house alone again," she said. "He showed a lack of judgment."

You can say that again. I honestly don't blame the parents. Some children are just like that. My youngest brother was like that. And the rest of us were normal, or relatively. At age 18 months he climbed onto the roof, got my mother's attention, and then jumped as she screamed...and just laughed. And he was always off exploring the world on his own, at age two...they tried with chain locks on all the doors, and were so exasperated that my father finally said to my mother: we either have to tie him up like a dog in that backyard, or hope for the best. So they took the latter course, and today he is the most conservative of us children. (He did have many incidents that he luckily survived, like being attacked by wild dogs at about age three, and requiring minor reconstructive surgery....man, some day I need to write a book about my family.)

This isn't like drugs, where you can say: well, the parents should have seen the warning signs. Who in their right mind would have thought, hey...is my kid planning on secretly going to Iraq for his school project?

Some children just have an independant streak, and lack judgment.

I digress. Thank goodness the story has a happy ending:

Hassan's dangerous adventure winds down with the 101st Airborne delivering the Fort Lauderdale teen to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, which had been on the lookout for him and promises to see him back to the United States this weekend.