Italy rescues 400 while Biondi and Americans register and wait........

[partylessinOhio]

On FOX Father Biondi, Pres. St. Louis University, has registered FOUR times to get out of Lebanon and still has not received any word on his fate there.

Italian warship just pulled into Cyprus and is unloading 400 persons they picked up in Lebanon, some are supposed to be injured or wounded, all different nationalities.

Americans are still waiting for rescue like Katrina victims waited and waited for days and days without food or water.

[babylonsister]

1. Oh, it gets better. When and if the US does show up,

apparently those being rescued will have to pay for that pleasure.

DUer Pirate Smile posted this:

From Andrew Sullivan's blog:

Email from Beirut

A reader writes:

On your most recent posting quoting about how the USG is bankrupt, and cannot pay its "creditors". I think they have figured out one way to take care of it: charge their citizens for emergency services.

I am currently enrolled in an intensive summer arabic program at the American University in Beirut, and am holed up at the university, probably the safest place in the city right now. Basically my choices have been to make a run for the border with Syria and try to catch a flight out, or wait for the USG to carry out the evacuation plan. Because I heard reports about the dangers of the former (and based on a statement by the American embassy), I opted for the latter. They are finally getting everything together today, but they dropped a little surprise: they are going to be billing us for giving us emergency transport to Cyprus, and then basically dropping us off on our own to get commercial flights back to the US. Most other goverrnments evacuating people here are actually flying them back to their home country without cost. But not the USG. They are perfectly happy to fund the World Toilet Summit (in Ireland, if my memory is correct) to the tune of $13 million or something. But 25,000 or so Americans stranded in the middle of a (quite unexpected) war zone? They better be ready to pay up if they want out.

http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/2006/07/email_from_bei...

[partylessinOhio]

3. Yes, I posted this from CNN earlier on another thread:

Escape from Beirut

(CNN) -- The following is the text of a message sent out Saturday to U.S. citizens registered with the U.S. State Department as traveling to or present in Lebanon.

Message to Americans in Lebanon

The Department of State continues to work with the Department of Defense on a plan to help American citizens depart Lebanon.

As of the morning of July 15, we are looking at how we might transport Americans to Cyprus. Once in Cyprus, Americans can then board commercial aircraft for onward travel. Commercial airlines provide the safest and most efficient repatriation options to final destinations.

The Department of State reminds American citizens that the U.S. government does not provide no-cost transportation but does have the authority to provide repatriation loans to those in financial need. For the portion of your trip directly handled by the U.S. Government we will ask you to sign a promissory note and we will bill you at a later date.

In a subsequent message, when we have specific details about the transportation arrangements, we will inform you about the costs you will incur. We will also work with commercial aircraft to ensure that they have adequate flights to help you depart Cyprus and connect to your final destination.

The Department of State continues to work around the clock and will continue to send updates to you as appropriate.

[Minnesota Libra]

4. I am so ashamed and absolutely disgusted with this government.............

....I wish someone could tell me how to get rid of these creatures without having to wait for an election that has probably already been decided and thrown.

It's government administrations like the one we are stuck with right now that produce extremists.

[Benhurst]

2. If you're a citizen of a third world nation, you can't be picky.

World's Only Superpower, maybe. Enlightened, Twenty-first Century nation, not.

This will be a valuable lesson for all BushAmericans. In BushAmerica you don't necessarily get what you pay for.

[napi21]

5. Does anybody know if the US has ever charged for evacuations

in the past? I don't recall ever hearing the subject discussed, but I'm positive we've had to evacuate people from troubled spots more than once in the past!