Americans frustrated by evacuation pace

[cal04]

Europeans and Lebanese with foreign passports fled Lebanon by the thousands, while Americans expressed frustration at the slow pace of U.S. evacuation efforts Tuesday as a cruise ship chugged toward the country to pick them up.

A Greek cruise ship carrying about 700 French citizens and others — many women and children — out of Lebanon arrived in Cyprus' port of Larnaca, while scores of people waited to board the Hual Transporter, a Swedish chartered ship docked at Beirut's port.

Haakon Svane, an official with the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, said the ship was expected to carry about 1,000 passengers, including Swedes, Finns, Norwegians and a few Americans.

An American man and his wife boarding the Swedish chartered ship expressed anger at how long the process to evacuate U.S. citizens was taking as fighting between the Israelis and Hezbollah guerrillas entered its seventh day.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/mideast_evacuation

[rocktivity]

1. And don't forget they have to either pay their own fare up front

or sign promissory notes for loans.

:headbang:
rocknation

[ixion]

2. they shouldn't be suprised...BushCo has shown that they don't give a

damn about Americans, unless they happen to be oil tycoons or the like.

[Webster Green]

3. Who is in charge of the operation?........Brownie, perhaps?

Another heck of a job, thats for sure.

[Igel]

7. The local embassies are in charge, and

apparently coordinate with the US command in the region. The only WH involvement is that the head of the Dept. of State gives the go-ahead. But it's not her plan, and she doesn't run the show; that responsibility is borne by the local embassy.

That seems to be the long-standing world-wide US policy.

[Ian David]

4. I blame Ray Nagin for not sending the busses to Lebanon. n/t

[CottonBear]

5. Reagan invaded a sovereign nation to "save" American students

who were not in danger and didn't need "saving." We killed a lot of innocent people in Grenada in the process and then set up an unfair, US influenced, war tribunal (does any of this sound familiar?), sentenced 15 people to death and 2 to life in prison and installed a US backed government.

Yet, BushCo can't evacuate American citizens in a major, foreign city with access to ship ports, heliports and major highways connnecting to those ports?

[mom cat]

6. The US is using US citizens as "human shields"

[Delphinus]

8. That may be true.

I've been off the 'net for a week, so had to listen to the radio. My first thought, when hearing that the evacuation plans were moving swlowly was, "why isn't this already in place? Are they having to come up with a brand new plan?" Then I thought, "this is a good way for us to have an excuse to join the war - kill a few American citizens and there we are."

[mom cat]

10. That is definately my concern. The delayis maddening, just as was

the Katrina delay (s).
Bush was very unpopular before 9-11 and some strategists may believe that a few American deaths might lead to war fever and a Republican/military/industrial/corporate resurgence.

[mainer]

9. Those damn French again -- taking care of their citizens!

Don't they know that the whole world is envious of Americans?

[TrogL]

11. Canada's sending three ships but they won't get there 'til tomorrow

[w4rma]

13. Canada is run by a Bush wannabe. (nt)

[maxrandb]

12. We tried to warn Americans that Bush and the Repukes couldn't

make the trains run on time. The unmitigated disaster these idiots have foisted upon our country is going to take years to fix.

They sure fixed their emergency response after the Katrina debacle didn't they.

I think my sig-line says it best.

[mbperrin]

14. There is no NEED to evacuate, unless you are a terrorist!

Everything I read, from the Congressional resolution to Murikan new media, indicates, the Israelis are pinpointing only Hezbollah and no one else. Those pesky Canadians? Obviously a cell for Hezbollah! Go back to business as usual, hell have an ice cream cone and a nice day. The good guys are in charge here!....................................right???

[termo]

15. not a single boat from the six fleet can pick up some americans...

:rofl:

[George1984]

16. I don't mean to sound cold hearted but

why is it the governments duty to evacuate people from a country they choose to live in?? Yes I agree they are citizens, but say for example they haven't lived in the United States for years, obviously they have chosen this for their own personal reasons. If they have become permanent residents, in whatever country it is, they live by their rules, and if they are American, they chose to leave America.

The difference would be for students and people who are there working temporarily for American interests, companies etc. I am just wondering since there seems to be a lot of complaints on the way it is being done, but I am pretty sure when someone goes to Lebanon they know they situation is unstable.

Just a thought for discussion, as I am not trying to offend anyone.

[Eugene]

17. Reuters: US: can move 2,000-plus Americans from Lebanon Wednesday

US: can move 2,000-plus Americans from Lebanon Wednesday

Jul 18, 2006 — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will be capable of evacuating
more than 2,000 Americans from Lebanon on Wednesday as it ramps up an operation to ferry
its citizens from a country being bombarded by Israel, U.S. officials said.

The United States has the capacity to fly 240 people out on Wednesday and use two ships
with a total of as many as 2,200 seats for evacuees, Assistant Secretary of State Maura
Harty told reporters.

<snip>

Full article: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2207587