Stupidity in Florida Apparently Endemic

Sometimes there just don't seem to be enough words to describe a story.

U.S. Teen Runs Off to Iraq by Himself

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 parents.

In a very small way, you almost have to admire the initiative shown by a high school student who, given an assignment on "immersive journalism" in class, decides to cover the situation in Iraq by going there in person to observe events. But then again, if he's that interested in journalism, he probably reads the news himself. And if we are to assume that, he almost certainly had to be aware that an American who speaks not one word of Farsi, showing up unprotected outside the green zone in Baghdad was very likely to be kidnapped or killed.

I believe his mother has grounded him until he's 35 years old. Yet another example of how the best education in the world won't do a thing for imparting any common sense.