The father of Florida teenager Farris Hassan, who ran away to Iraq on a dangerous trip that cost hundreds of dollars, admits some admiration for his son's pluck.

"He wished he could stay longer!" Dr. Redha Hassan said in disbelief.

Hassan, 16, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was in Iraq on his own for just a few days when he came under the care of the U.S. Embassy.

"I am very pleased to announce that the young American citizen who has been in Iraq the past few days has now safely departed Baghdad, and this young American is now on his way back home to his family in the United States,'' Consul General Richard Hermann said.

Hassan's trip began on Dec. 11 with a $900 flight from Miami to Kuwait. From there, he was turned back from the Iraqi border, closed for the Dec. 15 election. He then flew into Beirut to stay with family and friends, and took a Christmas flight to Baghdad.

It was a dangerous trip for a teenager, who is the son of Iraqi immigrants but is unable to speak Arabic. Dozens of foreigners have been killed, and hundreds more kidnapped by Iraqi gangs and Islamist rebel groups.

Hassan's brother said he will give him a spanking when the two are reunited, while his mother wishes Hassan will recognize the anxiety he has caused.

"I just hope he'll realize what he put us through," Shatha Atiya told The Associated Press.

Hassan decided to make the trip after learning about immersion journalism at Pine Crest School, a prep school in Fort Lauderdale. Immersion journalism mandates that a writer live the life of a subject.

His class was assigned to pick an international topic and write editorials about it. Hassan chose the Iraq war, and asked his mother to take him to Baghdad.

She said she would take him when Iraq was less dangerous, but Hassan instead left without her, only sending an e-mail after his departure, Atiya said.

Hassan intended to interview journalists about covering the war there, and contacted AP after his second night in Baghdad. The news agency called the U.S. Embassy and soldiers were sent to collect him, and bring him back to the relatively-safe Green Zone.

The U.S. Embassy notified his parents, who now say they are going to keep a much-tigher control on their son.

"We are going to watch his every move. We are going to take his passport. We're going to limit his access to money," Atiya told CBS television.

When school officials learned of Hassan's trip, they threatened to expel him. His parents persuaded officials to allow him to remain. It is not immediately clear why he was to be expelled.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy continues to warn foreigners about travel to one of the world's most dangerous destinations.

Earlier this month, American contractor Ronald Schulz was abducted and killed. Another American, two Canadians, a Briton, a Frenchman, a Jordanian, a Lebanese and six Sudanese are among foreigners still missing in Iraq.

With a report by CTV's Murray Oliver in Washington