16YEAR OLD ACTION REPORTER; FARRIS HASSAN

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 then attempted an incredibly dangerous border crossing into Iraq by taking a taxi through the desert from Kuwait City.

When that failed, he took a plane to Baghdad last Sunday, with his first full day being punctuated by the deafening noise of six vehicle bombs, which killed five and injured more than 40.

Once journalists got whiff of his arrival, US embassy staff were alerted, and the teenager was put on a flight which leaves today and will be back in Florida by the weekend where he will meet with his relieved parents.

It would appear that Hassan was so inspired by an "immersion journalism" assignment set by his school that he decided to go out and "live the story" in the old tradition pioneered by the late Hunter S Thompson.

But Westerners in Baghdad all agree that the boy islucky to be alive after somehow getting to the war-torn area virtually without any help. -- timesonline