The MSM report that Bush is “racing” to complete evacuation plans for an estimated 25,000 US citizens in Lebanon. The kicker is that Americans must first pay or sign an IOU to Bush before boarding cruise ships used to transport Americans to safety.
Escape from Lebanon is not easy for private citizens. No airplanes because heavy Israeli bombing closed Lebanon’s only international airport. Syria has agreed to accept Americans leaving by land, but the US State Dept. has warned such an escape route is too dangerous because Israel has bombed out bridges and roads, and there may be future bombings.
One purpose of our Embassy is to help Americans in need overseas. However, Americans in Lebanon are now understandably frustrated with the chaotic or nonexistent rescue plan. When calling their US Embassy, they find it troubled with overloaded, busy lines not able to handle the calls; and, when they finally speak to someone, the staff is in a state of confusion and does not have information to provide to Americans.
It appears Americans in Lebanon are not seeking information from the right place, which is USA TV. The US rescue plan includes advising Americans in Lebanon – via US TV – to stay in the dangerous areas of Lebanon, but somehow get in touch with the US government:
“It is a chaotic situation in Lebanon,” Nicholas Burns, U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs said Tuesday on CBS’s “The Early Show.” “Our advice to American citizens, if they’re in a dangerous area, is to stay put. Get in touch with us.”
With all the bombing on infrastructure in Lebanon, it is nice to know that our government is confidant that TV is still operational so that Americans can get this information from the Early Show, rather than our Embassy.
There may be 25,000 Americans in Lebanon: Only 64 Americans were rescued by late Monday: 21 were flown out via a helicopter from the US Embassy and many have driven to Syria despite US warnings of the danger.
The Pentagon has now hired a private cruise ship to arrive on Tuesday and it will be protected by one warship at the ship docks used for evacuation. The Lebanese-owned Orient Queen cruise ship — capacity of 750 people — will take the American evacuees to Cyprus.
Nothing in life is free, not even rescue by Bush from a war zone: The “State Department said those evacuated would pay the commercial cost for the trip.” And, if you don’t have the rescue-from-war-zone fare, don’t worry:
Interesting also that Bush added a rescue charge to Americans because State Dept. spokesman McCormack said that “We want to work to get everybody out who wants to get out. That’s our job, and that’s what we’re working on.” So evacuation of Americans from a war zone is a US government job similar to any other protect-and-serve function performed by our government. So, why the cost?
“Evacuating 25,000 Americans on a moment’s notice is a difficult operation for the State Department and our military planners, but it must be handled expeditiously.” The US is not the only country with tens of thousands of nationals in Lebanon. Britain has 10,000, Australia has 25,000, Canada 10,000 and France 20,000.
France started its evacuation on Monday, taking 1,250 people, including Americans on a chartered ferry. No word if rescue required money in order to board the ferry.
One reason France responded so quickly is because it joined forces with Belgian and is conducting multiple ferry trips to rescue its people. Italy also rescued 350 of its nationals on Monday.
Meanwhile, the US rescued by helicopter 60 people on Tuesday, and hopes another 60 will be rescued before the end of the day. “The helicopters carry 32 people at a time, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.” Given that helicopter capacity is limited to 32 people at a time, that means about 4 trips will be made Tuesday to rescue 120 people. Why not more helicopters and more trips? And, why was the fact of the helicopter’s limited capacity revealed only anonymously by an official? Why is limited capacity and limited number of helicopter runs not freely disclosed to the public?
I guess this is another crisis that no one in the Bush administration could have been reasonably required to predict. Wrong! According to state undersecretary Burns, the evacuation preparations were “very well thought out, methodical and highly prepared.”
So, what we are seeing on TV and reading in our newspapers may seem slow, chaotic and mismanaged, but it is proceeding according to plan — and that should worry all Americans.
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