I Found This Upsetting!, pay to be evacuated???

On the news last night it was reported that the American citizens in Lebonon had to pay the US government to be evacuated from that war zone! It was stated that if they could not pay upfront they had to sign an IOU stating that they promised to pay when returned to this country!

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?????

Jeeze! Look at all the places we shell out millions to and we're too cheap to take care of our own?

Our administration in action....

We are the ONLY country charging its citizens to be evacuated. The evacuation efforts rival the response to Katrina: totally inept with NO leadership from the White House.

What is that!? We have not had true leadership from the Whitehouse in the past 6 years!

Still NO excuse for charging tax paying citizens to be evacuated from a war zone!

This charge for service was "implimented" right after the Granada evac by yet another "great?" president....

I still agree 100% that US citizens should be evacuated fro free, but I remember hearing that there are certain countries that if you want to go to you need to sign a waver saying you will pay if you need evacuating. I have been looking all over for confirmation on this and have not found it so I may have been listening to someone that does not know what they are talking about.
If you think about it the cost of evacuation must be quite high and maybe the government should not be responsible for saving everyone who makes bad choices (even if they were not bad at the time). I mean where does it end. Does that country that will evacuate you have the right to tell its citizens that they do not have the right to go to dangerous countries, so they lower the chances of performing a rescue operation?? It often seems on this board that the general since is that we want the government out of your life and I whole heartily agree, but if I do not think you can pick and choose when you want government involvement.
I spend alot of time in Central and South America and will FINALLY be going to the Congo this year, so this idea can possibly hit close to home for me.

Congo? jeez . . . Randy, I'd look into making some kind of private arrangements before you ship out.

Like chosing Hawaii instead?

This has nothing to do with picking and choosing government control!

We are either citzens of this country or we are not!

BAD CHOICES??? People visiting family, students in University, folks just on vacation?

There was no forwarning that this event was about to happen and those folks mentioned above had no clue ( our present administration probilbly did ), but that is all beside the point....

Since when do AMERICAN CITZENS have to pay to be safe when abroad?

I hope your excursion into Africa does not cause you unjust monitary expense, not to mention the stress that you could go through because of your decission.

WE are citizens of this country and are government is supposed to protect us in situations like these and not at extra cost to those involved.

Viet Nam, Granada,and other places where our citizens have been in peril were free extraction, just because we valued our people during those times... seems our values have changed today!

Anyone else see Hotel Rwanda? Frightening what travelers can be caught in the middle of. (besides the horror of the people who lived there)

If we were an impoverished nation I could see some arguement for the contingency of 'you're on your own if you choose to go there'. But we are not. We shell out money all over the place for ridiculous reasons.

Business is now global. The govt can't encourage global competitiveness and then not support their citizens abroad.


I think we have to go back a lot farther than 6 years to find leadership in the White House. I don't care if it is a Democrat, Republican or Rodeo Clown please, please somebody worthy of the job run for office next time. Just once in my life I'd like to vote FOR a candidate instead of against the larger of two evils.

Curious, shadows. When this was reported was their any feedback? Has anyone seen feedback since the report?

The report was on CNN Headline news last night about 7 - 7:30PM .

My wife said she heard it again on the local news at 11PM.

It's real! I heard it this morning early on NPR when I got up.

But it seems it's been waived:

http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Nm...jNkNWRkMDliZjg=

Of course, we have to play badminton with whose law it is . . .
Who CARES!? As long as we get the people out of there.

I didn't mean to imply it wasn't real but was wondering now that it was out, was anything being done about it.

I find this policy to be fantastic. First of all, regardless of the perceived chance of violence, the fact is the region has been a hotbed of war and strife, so those venturing there know ahead of time that their chances of being "caught in the middle" are better than somewhere else. Secondly, this "government" responsibility happens to be my money too. I'll bet you my last bowl of grits that if a nation-wide vote were taken, the outcome would be overwhelmingly "yes, go get em, and yes, make em pay for it." I also agree with people paying for ambulance rides. I suppose that makes me a heartless ba**ard, but guess what? I don't think life is free. Furthermore, I think if anyone believes in "free extraction", then they obviously don't know anything about our system of taxation. Additionally, remarks about wasteful government spending does not equate to a blank check for all subsequent spending.

This does make me want to ask a few questions:

How many Americans in Lebanon does it take to warrant the enormous resources of our military to execute such an extraction?

Which presidential administration set up such a policy as was mentioned earlier?

If this policy has been rescinded, what do ya think about W now?

Should American motorcycle riders who crash in states with no helmet law receive government (people, remember) paid medical care or funerals?

Is there any peril an American can put themselves in that makes their rescue their own responsibility?

Why do I see this reaction as a product of the DemocRats parental approach to governing?

So people are a bunch of whinners. This region has been at boiling point for awhile. Right about the time that this Isreal/Lebanon war has started, the government warned people that they should not travel to this area and if you are there, you should make plans to get out. It is not the governments job to have to pay for everyone to leave an area because the people that want to leave did not get out when there was a chance.

Here is a tidbit that most people are not reporting, a lot of these people that are being rescued have dual citizenship with America and Lebanon. Now which country, if any, should cover the cost of these people being rescued? The US government is air lifting people out by coper, cruise ships, and now a carrier task force with the Marines. This is going to cost millions.

I's sorry, if I get word that the government is warning about traveling in an area that I'm in, you better believe that I would be on the next plane home!!