Posted on 07/19/2006 9:51:03 PM PDT by BurbankKarl
Hmmm. Good luck with that. I believe they are just going to be an escort - they're the big warship. They are two days behind the Nashville, which got in sometime late night or early morning Thursday.
They have boarded or may still be ferrying evacuees from the landing craft to the Nashville, 300 at a time. They may be underway to Cyprus, but wouldn't have arrived there yet. It seems to be taking 8 hours instead of the 5 hours we heard originally. It's only 100 miles and takes very little time in the military choppers - but they're for really sick people or those with small children and people who can't stand in line for health reasons.
Last he wrote, he expected to be gone by Wednesday morning (yesterday). He said Tuesday evening "tomorrow" which would have been Wednesday.
All he could've done was jump ahead (if he didn't get a call) of the callees and go on the Orient Queen, which means he's already in Cyprus and will be in Baltimore sometime this afternoon or evening - which arrival we will see on TV, unless he makes his own arrangements to fly to Chicago.
The next opportunity he had to be leaving on Wednesday would've been if he were picked up by the landing craft to go out to the Nashville, but that was really Thursday. (That's the one I'm kinda thinking he might be on, just an educated hunch.)
Otherwise, he might get the Orient Queen again on the re-run later today, then the Nashville again, even later, most likely tomorrow, Friday. The Iwo Jima might be there Saturday, but like I said, I'm kind of thinking it's not going to be taking on any passengers.
The Vittoria something, Italian cruise ship, has also been chartered by US, but doesn't get there until Friday sometime. That one carries up to 1,400, I believe. There is also a smaller vessel due in on Friday that can carry 300.
"The US Embassy should have been better prepared for the crisis."
Almost 50 years ago when I was studying in Mexico, I had a little problem and was told don't bother with the US Embassy, you will have better help from the British Embassy. This advice also was said to pertain to US Embassys in many countries. Apparently things have not improved.
This is a new Iwo Jima, commissioned in June 2001.
Oh, sorry - I've been reading and reading, back and forth. When I answered you above, I forgot you had posted in response to my question of whether "they" had found rebel_yell2 yet.
I was asking, jokingly, if the TV person with the Nashville had "found" RY2 yet - hoping that's where he might be. I had posted earlier that if he *had* made the Orient Queen evac - and we don't know whether he did or didn't - that I was "waving" to him with the others they were showing on TV disembarking in Cyprus.
If he was on the Nashville, instead, I had teased about his making up a sign to say "Hello FReepers" and to wave to us, lol.
Some interesting stats from Wikepedia about the '95 Lebanese general elections that followed the so-called "Cedar Revolution" --
In the first round of elections, held in Beirut, and won by anti-Syrian coalition led by the later assassinated Hariri, the turnout was only 28%.
In the second round, held in Southern Lebanon, and won overwhelmingly by the Hezbollah/Shiite parties, the turnout was between 43% and 55%.
All those enthusiastic demonstrations, and Beirut could only muster a 28% turnout -- and that was before Hariri got blown up.
The so-called "multicultural" Lebanon is a paper construct, and the fantasy that the Lebanese themselves will neutralize Hezbollah is just that -- a fantasy.
Terrific post. thanks.
(In other words, we have to fact check every single thing they say.)
To paraphrase President Reagan's saying: Never trust, always verify.
Thank you for the thread.. I am away from cable TV and can come here and keep up!
Update on post 206:
Jul. 20, 2006 12:05 | Updated Jul. 20, 2006 12:30
Lebanese PM Saniora: Disarm Hizbullah
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
ROME
Hizbullah has created a "state within a state" in Lebanon and must be disarmed, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said in an interview published Thursday in an Italian daily.
Saniora told Milan-based newspaper Corriere della Sera that the Shi'ite group has been doing the bidding of Syria and Iran, and that it can only be disarmed with the help of the international community and once a cease-fire has been achieved in the current Middle East fighting.
Many Protestants wait until family can come.
My home is in a valley too far from town to get cable...Been here 5 years with no TV and would never have one again...I get all my news from the web...get to hear other people suffer with TV personalities...i don't miss it at all...
Is rebel_yell out? Has anybody heard news from him? How did he make it?
I got out on the Orient Queen and am now in Athens en route home. More when I get back and get some sleep. And I have photos!
Just had to make one quick comment. I heard only about ten people out of 900 speak English on the ship (okay I didn't talk to ALL 900). Many didn't have U.S. passports (They had to get in a line to register, a LONG line). These were not Americans who live in the U.S. and many were not citizens. Arabic was the language of choice; even shipboard announcements were done in Arabic and English.
Thanks for info about that book. I tell ya, I've been going from link to link to link trying to learn more about everything that is going on. I still say it's a total mess over there, and I'm not just talking about recent developments. I consulted my bible again and all I can say is come soon Lord.
Please let me be the first to say I am so glad you got out of there! Have a safe trip home and talk to us when you can!
MSNBC is Live! Has video of USA landing on beach in Lebanon! ...It's been 23 years since that happened. Engineers making roads. ..Cool!
I had my cable disconnected because I am at my daughter's so much.. I thought I would probably go into withdrawal but I really am not missing it so much.
My homepage is FR.. I depend on it!
May God Protect Israel.
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