I just spoke with the State Dept. in DC. They now have a "special" Lebanon task force. The staffer I spoke to refuted everything I have been told about an evacuation. He asked me to "confirm" that the five MEA planes actually left the Beirut airport. It appears that CNN knows more than State. And it looks like I will be spending much more time in Beirut than I had planned.
If you have time, please phone your Congress Critter and ask him or her what they are doing to get U.S. citizens out of harm's way here in Lebanon.
Don't expect much from the State Dept. over there. You probably broke up one of their gay booze parties with your call.
It is a good idea for FReepers with DC connections to call and make the Congress aware of the situation on the ground there. Good luck, and lay low!!!
What a mess.
Basically, they've authorized non-emergency Embassy personnel to leave.
...It appears that CNN knows more than State...
Son, don't trust your life to a government bureaucrat.
I'm shocked I tells ya!
If you have time, please phone your Congress Critter and ask him or her what they are doing to get U.S. citizens out of harm's way here in Lebanon.
Good idea. Will do.
Zoe Lofgren has been made aware of your plight. Didn't talk to her personally, but the flack I talked to was very pleasant and concerned over the phone and will be getting back to me.
Can't see much point in calling Boxer and Feinstien, I'm loathe to suggest that they use this issue to beat Bush over the head, and that's the only way they'd care.
The light of God surrounds me;
The love of God enfolds me;
The power of God protects me;
The presence of God watches over me;
Where ever I am God is.
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father
Who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
On Earth as it is in Heaven
Give us this day
Our Daily Bread
And Forgive us our debts
as we Forgive our debtors
and lead us not
in temptation
but deliver us
from evil
for thine
is the kingdom and the power
and the Glory
Forever.
Amen.
A Prayer for Protection while Travelling
I have risen this morning by Thy grace, O my God, and left my home trusting wholly in Thee, and committing myself to Thy care. Send down, then, upon me, out of the heaven of Thy mercy, a blessing from Thy side, and enable me to return home in safety even as Thou didst enable me to set out under Thy protection with my thoughts fixed steadfastly upon Thee. There is none other God but Thee, the One, the Incomparable, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.
Godspeed and good luck Reb.
Thank you for keeping us updated with first-hand accounts. Praying for you, rebel_yell2.
ping to 539
Here is the nut of the story: But no U.S. official or American citizen has left Lebanon because there is no way to leave, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, and the U.S. government is discussing contingency plans to help Americans leave. You already knew that. According to the thread there are 25,000 US Citizens, including permanent residents, in Lebanon. Finally,
Pentagon officials have said the U.S. military was closely monitoring the situation and has ships in the region that could be used in the event U.S. officials order an evacuation of American citizens from Lebanon.
The military has the helicopter carrier USS Iwo Jima heading a seven-ship group taking part in an exercise off the coast of Jordan, officials said.
Also, there are 40 US college students holed up at American University..but conditions aren't really good.
According to this .. and it was posted a little over an hour ago .. the State Dept. is telling Americans to stay put.
American college students hole up in Beirut"
"Rockets roar overhead
"The ships are all about a few hundred meters from my balcony," she said. As rockets fly overhead, "The sound is awful."
The group is holed up in a low floor on the dormitory, one that is "not a proper shelter," she said. She has access to clean water and some food she bought at a local store during the day, but not much. There are no school officials nearby, so the students are running the shelter operations by themselves.
"It's literally being run by 19-year-olds," she said. "We don't know what to do."
"I just want to go home," she added.
Prospects of that aren't good right now. Beirut airport, about 10 miles south of the school, is closed, bombed earlier this week by Israeli warplanes.
U.S. State Department officials are discussing the possibility of evacuation with the Defense Department, but for now, the roughly 25,000 U.S. citizens in Lebanon are being told to stay put.
b"There aren't any ... reliable ways to get out by air, land or sea," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Friday. U.S. citizens are being told to "assess what is best for their own personal security."
If conditions change and a reliable way out emerges, Americans are urged to leave, McCormack told NBC's Libby Leist. Administrators at the American University of Beirut also are telling its students they are safest where they are. The school is not affiliated with American University in Washington, D.C.
‘Never been bombed’
“(The school) has never been bombed, even during the civil war,” university spokeswoman Ada H. Porter said from New York. “Even during the civil war, all factions respected our borders. We have always had a major hospital that treated everybody, and it has never been closed.”
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Hopefully, you have water/liquids, some food, and a sound structure to bunk in. God bless you, and please .. keep us posted.
Still thinking of you Rebel_Yell, and Alouette's family, and Patrick, as well. Prayers for God's wisdom, and protection for all of you in the midst of this...