|
US teen runs off to Iraq to see 'struggle between good and evil'
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-30 15:15 "And I'm like, 'Well, I should probably be going.' It was not a safe place.
The way they were looking at me kind of freaked me out," he said.
It was mid-afternoon Tuesday, after his second night in Baghdad, that he
sought out editors at The Associated Press and announced he was in Iraq to do
research and humanitarian work. AP staffers had never seen an unaccompanied
American teenager walk into their war zone office.
"I would have been less surprised if little green men had walked in," said
editor Patrick Quinn.
Wearing a blue long-sleeve shirt in addition to his jeans and sneakers,
Hassan appeared eager and outgoing but slightly sheepish about his situation.
The AP quickly called the U.S. embassy.
Embassy officials had been on the lookout for Hassan, at the request of his
parents, who still weren't sure exactly where he was. One U.S. military officer
said he was shocked the teen was still alive. The 101st Airborne lieutenant who
picked him up from the hotel said it was the wildest story he'd ever heard.
Most of Hassan's wild tale could not be corroborated, but his larger story
arc was in line with details provided by friends and family members back home.
Dangerous and dramatic, Hassan said his trip has also been educational. He
interviewed Christians in south Lebanon and had tea with Kuwaitis under a tent
in the middle of a desert. He said he spoke with U.S. soldiers guarding his
Baghdad hotel who told him they were treated better by Sunni Arabs _ the
minority population that enjoyed a high standing under Saddam Hussein and are
now thought to fuel the insurgency _ than by the majority Shiites.
Aside from the research he wanted to accomplish, Hassan also wrote an essay
saying he wanted to volunteer with the Red Cross in Iraq. He said he wrote half
the essay in the United States, half in Kuwait, then e-mailed it to his teachers
on December 15 while in the Kuwait City airport.
|
