There are new facts coming out about Farris Hassan, the Florida teenager who went to Baghdad to do research for a school paper. First reports indicated that Farris has instigated this trip on his own, without the knowledge or assistance of his parents. Apparently that isn’t true. Bob Norman of New Times has an excellent article today.
Mr. Norman says Farris father, Dr. Redha Hassan, a 57-year-old anesthesiologist “does indeed have a rather shady past… .” Here’s more:
The man admitted that he arranged for his son’s flight into Baghdad through “political connections” even though he knew foreigners like Farris were targeted for kidnappings and, potentially, beheadings. … And it gets even more unbelievable when you consider that Dr. Hassan was suspected by the federal government of conspiring to commit terrorism 20 years ago. … You see, the FBI arrested Dr. Hassan back in 1985 after he tried to manufacture thousands of false Iraqi passports and military identification cards. The doctor’s capture happened in Fort Lauderdale, but the covert web of Hassan’s cohorts stretched across the world. Also arrested were two of Hassan’s brothers, Nouri and Ali, and a “pro-Khomeini” activist named Salah Jawad Schubber. … The investigation began after the FBI received a tip from Redha Hassan’s next-door-neighbor, a printing store owner named Joel Feinstein. Hassan had asked Feinstein, who now lives in retirement in Pompano Springs, if he would make the passports and IDs. In all, he wanted 4,000 fake documents.“He said, ‘They’re for my family,’” recalls the 71-year-old Feinstein. “I said, ‘You must have a big family. ‘” Feinstein notified the FBI…
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He said that his FBI handlers told him the investigation led to the breakup of a plot to assassinate Rajiv Ghandi, then India’s prime minister. While such plots were common (Ghandi was killed by a suicide bomber in 1991), I couldn’t find independent verification of that allegation, though there is no reason to suspect Feinstein of lying.
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The charges, however, were later dropped, and Hassan was allowed to continue living and practicing medicine in the United States.“The FBI got Hassan to work with them…
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…he[Farris] gave an exclusive interview to MSNBC. In it, he basically admitted that his father knew about his travel plans and offered that, while in Lebanon, he’d visited the offices of the Islamist group Hezbollah, which has carried out countless terrorist acts.“With each group of persons I immersed myself, I changed my persona,” he told interviewer Rita Cosby. “When I was with Christians, I told them that I was a Lebanese Christian, an American Christian, and my name was Jason.
“And when I met with the Hezbollah leader… I told [him] that I work for a school newspaper and that I wanted to show Americans that Hezbollah is, in fact, a good organization that’s fighting for the Shiite people in Lebanon.”
So the kid’s a chameleon and, apparently, a born liar. I wonder what role he was playing while immersed with Rita Cosby. Oh yeah, it was the idealistic rich American boy who played hooky from school to promote democracy.
Very interesting...
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