The Christian Science Monitor has this bizarre story about a UCLA college student who recently decided to sneak into Libya and spend his vacation hanging out with the rebels fighting Muammar Qaddafi because he thought it would be a “sick vacation to come here and fight with the rebels.”
Here’s an excerpt from the article:
He spent $800 on a one-way ticket from L.A. to Cairo, then traveled by land across the border into Libya, where he has now been for nearly two weeks. His parents do not know he is here. He speaks no Arabic, and has been staying with fighters and families in the area.
“I haven’t spent a dollar in weeks,” he says, because the people of Libya have extended such hospitality.
He has no way of contact with the outside world, and on Tuesday was unsure of the date. Yet he seemed to be having the time of his life.
At the rebel checkpoint about 80 miles from Sirte, he held a Russian-made shotgun the rebels had given him, appearing to be unfamiliar with it. Then a rebel handed him an AK-47, and he awkwardly fired several rounds into the air. The fighters cheered and laughed before quickly taking the gun back.
The boisterous rebel fighters, clearly enjoying this foreigner who had joined their ranks, shouted competing offers for him to join their respective brigades. Jeon needed translation to understand what they were asking. He communicates with sign language, and broken Italian.
