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Sour arrival in Cyprus for Canadians--"It was a horrible trip"
National Post ^ | 7-20-06 | Aileen McCabe

Posted on 07/20/2006 10:44:13 AM PDT by SJackson

LANARCA, Cyprus — It could be a long trip to Ottawa for Prime Minister Stephen Harper if he decides to mix with the Lebanese evacuees he is ferrying home.

"It was a horrible trip," one after another describe their 13-hour voyage from Beirut to Cyprus when they disembark in the scorching heat here. "People were vomiting, there were no beds, the toilets with filthy.

"There was no air conditioning and they ran out of water," one young women told reporters before storming on board the waiting buses laid on by the Canadian government.

The arrival of the Blue Dawn, the first ship load of Canadians to be evacuated from war-torn Lebanon, was supposed to a joyous occasion.

Instead, the 26 people aboard the Lebanese-owned pleasure boat were disgusted by the conditions on board, particularly when compared to the ships that rescued French and U.S. citizens which loaded at almost the same time as them in Beirut on Wednesday.

The hold-ups began in Beirut when Israel refused to let more than one ship exit the harbour at a time and the complaints just got worse as the voyage continued for six hours beyond its expected arrival time.

About 100 of those on board the boat will fly home with the Prime Minister who diverted his Airbus from Paris to Cyprus to help out the rescue effort.

But even that gesture fell slightly flat when he failed to show up at the port Thursday to greet the evacuees or visit the welcome centre the Cypriots provided them.

Canadian officials said he stayed on his plane all night and through most of the day so as not to cause the over-stretched Cyprus government even more security problems.


TOPICS: Canada; Foreign Affairs; Israel; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2006israelwar; expats; ingrates
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To: Al Gator
I was part of the exodus from south vietnam.

What ship? I was attached to the Midway about one year afterwards. I was thinking about the stories some of my shipmates told about their part in the evacuation, like the VN Air Force Major making his first trap in a O-1 with his wife and five kids on board.

41 posted on 07/20/2006 11:12:19 AM PDT by magslinger (Crusade, what happens when enough Christians have enough jihad.)
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To: SJackson
As someone who spends the better part of the year overseas, I have some strong opinions of the obligations of a nation toward its citizens who have chosen to travel and about the obligations of those traveling citizens for their own safety.

First, It is your choice to travel to, visit or live in a country other than your own. Part and parcel of that choice is the obligation to pay for your trip their and back, the judgment of your safety while there, the evaluation of your host government, and your own medical care while there. You are obligated to live according to the laws and customs of your host country while there. If you run foul of the law, you pay the price.

The only time that your home government is obligated to "bail" you out is when some circumstance changes where your citizenship is reason for your troubles. For instance, you are taken hostage because you are Canadian or American. If you are caught dealing drugs, for instance, you are on your own. However, if your punishment is more harsh just because you are American, then the USA can pressure to obtain treatment for you that is consistent with others.

42 posted on 07/20/2006 11:14:04 AM PDT by JimSEA (America cannot have an exit strategy from the world.)
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To: petro45acp

Despite posessing Canadian passports, I don't think most of these people are really Canadians at all. They're Lebanese who found Canada a convenient place to escape to the last time their country went to crap. I wonder what proportion of the ones that are there now are Christians, and how many Muslim? There are a lot of Christian Lebanese in Canada, in Halifax, Nova Scotia for example.


43 posted on 07/20/2006 11:14:23 AM PDT by -YYZ-
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To: Al Gator

Yes, like that! I can't recognize anyone from that photo, but I probably knew at least a couple of the guys in that shot.


44 posted on 07/20/2006 11:15:28 AM PDT by magslinger (Crusade, what happens when enough Christians have enough jihad.)
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To: bygolly

Is this yours? It's really good. And I have a particularly annoying thirty-year-old "kid" in mind to send it to.

Thanks for posting it.


45 posted on 07/20/2006 11:16:51 AM PDT by Barset
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To: Al Gator

Thank you for your service.


46 posted on 07/20/2006 11:17:49 AM PDT by squarebarb
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To: SJackson
People were vomiting, there were no beds, the toilets with filthy.

Of course people were vomiting, it's a boat - many, many people are prone to sea sickness - it's quite common and expected. And no beds??? I'm aghast - but what does somebody need a bed for on a 13-hour trip? I know it's long, but did they hope to sleep through it? Sheesh. And filthy toilets? Lots of people in a confined space tends to create that condition. No worse than many a porto-potty used by people every day at sporting events and parks. Just the way it is.

I am sick and tired of these idiots. They should be grateful, and instead they are wallowing in a haze of nanny state induced whining.

47 posted on 07/20/2006 11:19:03 AM PDT by PLK
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To: SJackson

My only question is, why would Karl Rove do it this way?


48 posted on 07/20/2006 11:20:42 AM PDT by Petronski (Living His life abundantly.)
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To: SJackson

Anyone wanting to read about a real "sour trip" please go here.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/130242b.htm

I'll be quiet now.


49 posted on 07/20/2006 11:20:51 AM PDT by Al Gator (Refusing to "stoop to your enemy's level", gets you cut off at the knees.)
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To: SJackson

Find a luxury cruise ship, take them back, and have them get their sorry a$$e$ bombed or shot.


50 posted on 07/20/2006 11:21:03 AM PDT by Right Wing Assault ("..this administration is planning a 'Right Wing Assault' on values and ideals.." - John Kerry)
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To: magslinger

Hancock.

After the initial load up, I ended up working the refugee camp at Grande.

The guys out on the water rounding up what was left of our "friends", have some real stories to tell.


51 posted on 07/20/2006 11:23:17 AM PDT by Al Gator (Refusing to "stoop to your enemy's level", gets you cut off at the knees.)
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To: Argus

***Sounds like the summer camp I went to as a kid.***!

LOL!


52 posted on 07/20/2006 11:26:21 AM PDT by kitkat (The first step down to hell is to deny the existence of evil.)
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To: timsbella

Ain't that the truth! The ingrates should be put in a lifeboat with directions and a map back to Lebanon! One "american" "woman" (and I use the term loosely) was whining and complaing about how "awful" and "slow" the US evacuation was. I suggested the same treatment for her in that thread.


53 posted on 07/20/2006 11:26:55 AM PDT by Convert from ECUSA (The Arab League jihad continues on like a fart in an elevator - FR American in Israel)
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To: SJackson
I'll conceed it's possible these folks are ingrates, butI smell a rat.

The rat wears a fedora, and carries a tape recorder.

Consider:

Leftist Reporter (LR) (shoving microphone in faces): "You just got out of Beirut! What was the trip like?

Refgee #1 (R1): "It was a bit rough, but we're glad to be out of there ..."

LR: "A bit rough? Tell me how it was ..."

R1: "Not a pleasure cruise ... but we're safe, now"

LR: "Details, man!

R1: "Well ... People were vomiting, there were no beds, the toilets with filthy." R2: "There was no air conditioning and they ran out of water,"

What part of this conversation would you expect a Leftist Reporter to print, and how would you expect the LR to spin the whole thing.

The MSM lies ... and when they're not outright lying, they're telling half truths or distorting the truth.

54 posted on 07/20/2006 11:28:11 AM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilisation is aborting, buggering, and contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: SJackson
There was no air conditioning and they ran out of water," one young women told reporters before storming on board the waiting buses laid on by the Canadian government.

I've heard of worse cruises.


55 posted on 07/20/2006 11:33:03 AM PDT by RGSpincich
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To: Al Gator

I'll bet. The guys I talked to did have fun pushing the Hueys over the side, but not a lot of excitement.


56 posted on 07/20/2006 11:35:39 AM PDT by magslinger (Crusade, what happens when enough Christians have enough jihad.)
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To: Convert from ECUSA

I hear you! Argh. The whiner that made by blood boil was the one that complained she had to PAY and was going to send the bill to Israel for reimbursement. I hope Israel sends her a bill back with the cost to bomb that Iranian reactor some time back.

With her trip expenses deducted from the total, of course...


57 posted on 07/20/2006 11:35:52 AM PDT by timsbella (Mark Steyn for Prime Minister of Canada! (Steve's won my vote in the meantime))
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To: Convert from ECUSA
Naw, here's what you actually said:

Kiss my Dixie tailpipe! They should put her ungrateful size 20 caboose into a lifeboat with a map and directions back to Lebanon.

I'm still cleaning coffee off my monitor... ;-)

58 posted on 07/20/2006 11:38:10 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: -YYZ-

Exactly.


59 posted on 07/20/2006 11:42:02 AM PDT by Mr. Lucky
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To: Grig

NO KIDDING!! They should be kissing the captain and kissing the ground. Will the whining NEVER stop??


60 posted on 07/20/2006 11:51:39 AM PDT by bboop (Stealth Tutor)
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