U.S. Set to Ferry Americans From Lebanon

[Rose Siding]

snip>
The operation began slowly. By late Monday only 64 were known to have departed....
The French lent a hand. In Paris, the foreign ministry said 50 U.S. citizens were evacuated with 800 French citizens and 400 other Europeans on a Greek ferry, Iera Petra, chartered by the French government.

Most of the first Americans to depart were removed by U.S. helicopters, some of which flew to a British base on Cyprus.

At the State Department, McCormack said the cost of a massive evacuation was beyond U.S. resources. He said evacuated Americans would be asked to pay commercial rates, and if they did not have the money, to promise to pay in the future.
...
Two organizations, one Arab-American and the other Muslim-American, criticized the slow start and that the United States was not promoting a cease-fire.

"The absence of American leadership to secure a cease-fire and protect its own citizens is appalling," said James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/17/AR2006071700749_2.html

[lala_rawraw]

1. wtf... why are they describing where they will be?

and how they will be getting around?

[Rose Siding]

5. I haven't seen it

A Marine site ID'd the place the helo evacs occurred. There's some more info in this thread-

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1658986

Anderson Cooper touched on some frustration with the delay, and said he'd be following that story.

[AlamoDemoc]

6. They are letting the Mossad employed spies in lebonan know where

the americans are...so that there would be an incident of sort were americans are killed and blamed on Syria and Iran.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

27. Is there something wrong with the 9/11 forum today?

This is Latest Breaking News, not Latest Paranoid Gibberish.

[CoffeeCat]

8. I know!

I worry about ALL of the Americans over there!

We're constantly announcing that 25,000 Americans are in Lebanon. Gee, how lovely. We've just lit a neon sign that says, "Come kill Americans who are trapped in Lebanon!" I'm sure there's a person or two in that region who would love to kill Americans...correct? This latest story reveals that the US lacks the resources for a mass evacuation--which is an announcement that Americans are trapped there and will continue to be in Lebanon for a while.

How could they do this?

Furthermore, I'm astounded that the media would report how Americans are being evacuated! A ferry is a sitting duck!

Are they trying to create an international incident?

Is this how we'll be pulled into WW3?

[bluestateguy]

2. Looks like they are doing the Hurricane Katrina rescue model

nt

[Pirate Smile]

13. Exactly. We don't have the "resources" to evacuate all the people?

Well, the French are helping us. Who else should we ask?


This is truly pathetic.

[MadMaddie]

3. Yea...the problem is that the Ferry only holds like 700 people

and there are thousands of US citizens that need to be evacuated....

Get this....every other country that has citizens has effective plans to get their citizens out....all except America......

[CoffeeCat]

10. They could land planes in large cities and get them out...

...why aren't they doing that RIGHT NOW!?

Man, there are going to be thousands of realllllly pissed off Americans who will have plenty to say to Anderson Cooper--once they're on terra firma.

[MadMaddie]

11. Israel bombed the runways of all major airports in Iran....

tunnels, etc.....

[CoffeeCat]

20. Why would Israel do this?

Why would Israel purposely destroy the Lebanese airports?

I can understand destroying military sites, or sites where Hezbollah members are supposed to be.

No doubt, Israel understands that there are tens of thousands of Americans in Lebanon. They would understand that it would be critical for Americans to escape, once war broke out.

I'd say that if Americans are trapped--and unable to flee because the airports are destroyed--that Israel is partly responsible.

Also---If the major airports were taken out, then it would be more difficult to fly the Americans out of Lebanon. However, there are many cities in Lebanon. We could coordinate evacuations in those cities and arrange for large planes to carry Americans to safety. It could be done.

[daleo]

24. Why? To destroy Lebanon's infrastructure.

The idea is to make the Lebanese suffer, so that they might disarm Hezzbollah. Unlikely though, as Lebanon's army is too weak to do much, and Lebanon's political culture is too fractured for collective punishment to cause the desired effect.

If Israel kills trapped Americans the Bush administration will just say "tough luck, you got in the way of a righteous Israeli attack", the way that Canadian PM Harper did after our people were killed.

[MrSlayer]

4. "The absence of American leadership to....... protect its own citizens.."

Fuckin A right it's appalling. Which only further proves that these neo-con assholes couldn't care less about us. Pawns in a sick game.

[MadMaddie]

12. Why should we be surprised...this fucking administration

couldn't evacuate an American city....why would we think they were capable of evacuating citizens out of another country...

I am just so pissed.....More Americans are going to die because of this administration...

[AlamoDemoc]

14. "The absence of American leadership to....... protect its own citizens.."

...indeed. This current situation is our tax dollars at work. Go figure!

[spindrifter]

7. If you want more details about

the evacuation activity, Stars and Stripes has it:

http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=38696

24th MEU helps 64 Americans evacuate Lebanon


By Jeff Schogol and Joseph Giordono, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, July 18, 2006



Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit evacuated 43 Americans from Lebanon on Monday as part of ongoing evacuation efforts, officials said.

Currently, there are three CH-53 Super-Stallion helicopters in Cyprus ferrying U.S. citizens out of Lebanon with more such helicopters expected to arrive Tuesday, said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

Additionally, the Navy is sending the destroyer USS Gonzalez to escort a Greek commercial ship contracted to ferry U.S. citizens from Lebanon to Cyprus, Whitman said.

The Greek ship is capable of transporting 750 passengers at one time, and will be available for evacuation efforts starting Tuesday, he said.

<more>

+++++++++++++

Obviously, this is not an easy evacuation, but this is almost like moving a mountain with a spoon....

[Rose Siding]

16. I think I'm just surprised that an emergency plan wasn't already in place

Sweden already got 1300 out. 5000 Americans have signed up to leave.

I wonder if the Swedes were charged for their transport.

[partylessinOhio]

9. What?

"At the State Department, McCormack said the cost of a massive evacuation was beyond U.S. resources."

Reverse those tax cuts and end warmongering!

How long are we going to stand for being third world?

[CoffeeCat]

15. Most outrageous statement of the day!!

"At the State Department, McCormack said 'the cost of a massive evacuation was beyond U.S. resources. He said evacuated Americans would be asked to pay commercial rates, and if they did not have the money, to promise to pay in the future'".

I can't believe what I'm reading.

This BushCo bastard is saying that America lacks the MONEY for a mass evacuation out of Lebanon.

Excuse me? We have billions to turn Iraq into Dante's Inferno--but we don't have the money to save our citizens in Lebanon???

We DO HAVE THE DAMN RESOURCES, SO WHY AREN'T WE RESCUING THEM?

If we wanted to--we could have dozens of US jets landing in major Lebanese cities--getting people out. If I was running this show, I could have every American out within a week.

This is outrageous!

I am so sick and tired of our government LYING to us and failing its citizens!

Questions to ask: Who benefits from leaving Americans behind in Lebanon? What are they planning?

Scurrilous bastards!

[cantstandbush]

17. Memories of the Liberty come to mind. I wouldn't want to be on that ship.

By the way, is Carnival Cruise Line owned by Israel? Someone made that statement in a post but I found it hard to believe.

[laconicsax]

18. *'s reasoning is simple

Taking his sweet-ass time endangers U.S. citizens and if any are killed by Hezbollah or other 'bad guy', the fact that he took his sweet-ass time will be overlooked while he's giving the big speeches calling for war against Iran and Syria. If U.S. citizens are killed in Israli strikes, it will be blamed on Hezbollah or some other 'bad guy' and the fact that he took his sweet-ass time will be overlooked while he's giving the big speeches calling for war against Iran and Syria.

By advertising where and when and how U.S. citizens will be evacuated, it opens the door for well-planned, coordinated attacks against the relief ships by any number of forces.

If Americans are killed over there the results will do the following for *:

1) Solidify his base
2) Give his approval ratings a bump
3) Provide excuses to send troops to Syria and Iran.

It would be like the Gulf of Tonkin and Lusitania all rolled into one.

War is what he wants. Doing anything to prevent full-scale war would be against his and the neocons better interests.

[Strelnikov_]

19. "McCormack Said The Cost .. Massive Evacuation Was Beyond U.S. Resources"

Yet we can spend, what, a couple billion a week on the occupation of Iraq.

Unbelieveable.

[Rose Siding]

21. Pix of French and Italian evacuation--->

The Italians sent a war ship-




France sent the prime minister-

[daleo]

22. The cost is beyond U.S. resources

My God, is the U.S. so broke that it can no longer rescue its citizens from a foreign war or a natural disaster? Or does Bush just not care?

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. The US spent all its money on the armaments the Israelis used to bomb

the airport, shell ships trying to leave, destroy the Beirut-Damascus road, and so on. Looks like protecting its own citizens has been privatised. The US government's core business is war, not looking after Americans.

[daleo]

29. Apparently U.S. citizens will have to pay back the government

If they ever are evacuated.

Surprisingly to me, the Canadian government said they would pick up the cost of the Canadian evacuees airfare from Cyprus, if they ever get evacuated.

[DeepModem Mom]

23. Oh, my dear Lord! K&R. nt

[mainer]

26. Did you see the American woman criticizing the US on TV?

She managed to get aboard the French-chartered ship, along with hundreds of French citizens. She complained that the US wasn't doing anything to help Americans, while the French and other Europeans are pulling out all the stops to get their people out of there. "Where's the U.S.? Why don't they care about their own citizens?"

Then there was the French woman who was sobbing and saying "God bless Jacques Chirac!"

[ShortnFiery]

28. Yes, CNN just informed us the the US has evacuated seven (7) USA Citizens

so far. Wow, talk about your delayed reaction. :(

On Edit: SoSoBad just said, "It's a slow process." There you have it, everything's FINE because the Corporate news told us so. :puke: