Fri 21 Jul 2006
U.S. Government to citizens "Pay up for evacuation"
Posted by mr. ed under foraging , putting on the glassesApparently, the US Government is grudgingly living up to its mandate to protect its citizens, but it will charge them for the services:
From: http://beirut.usembassy.gov/lebanon/Lebanon_Situation_Update.html
Lebanon Situation Update - July 15, 2006
July 15, 2006This information is current as of today, Sat Jul 15 12:20:12 2006.
A message to the American citizens 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 transporation arrangments, 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 as appropriate.
Bolding added by me.
So the U.S. Government will give Israel the money and armaments to fight the war then charge its own citizens to extract them to Cypress? Most other European governments are extracting their citizens back to their home country via ship to Cypress then charter flight onwards.
July 21st, 2006 at 9:23 am
I think this fits in with the idea that the U.S. govt would prefer that U.S. citizens have no relation with the Middle East to begin with: i.e. "It's your fault, why were you there to begin with? You should have stayed at home."
July 21st, 2006 at 10:43 am
Yeah, I'm sure they're recant on this, but I *thought* that's why we paid taxes.
I was also flabbergasted that they took so long to actually get everything in place to get these people out. "Yeah, plan B is we bring up that amphibious assault group and have the Marines get them out" but a couple of days into this mess they hadn't issued any such order. Me, I get the ships moving immediately, regardless of what I end up doing. But that's just me…you know, putting troops within range to actually protect 25,000 American citizens.