July 21, 2006
25,000?
ALa at Blonde Sagacity brings up something I wondered about, but was too bashful to post. I was pretty surprised there were 25,000 Americans in Lebanon, and I rolled my eyes at their Katrina-sized complaints that they were not rescued more swiftly and in more style.
ALa makes me look like Rep. Pelosi by comparison:
Can someone PLEASE explain to me the whining and complaining and finger pointing about Americans not being able to get out of Lebanon?! Why the hell would you be in Lebanon to begin with?! And why is it the government's problem when despite State department travel warnings and advisories you decided to go to a country in the Middle East that sit next to Israel and Syria and elected Hezbollah to its Parliament?!
I’m glad we protect our citizens, and after the Cedar revolution hope for good relations with a stable, modern, pluralistic Lebanon. But I saw a guy on TV complain that he spent 16 hours on a four hour boat trip. With all due respect, Sir, “Waaaaah!”
UPDATE: We've been topped by the Motherland. Samizdata reports that "Omar Bakri Mohammed, the Islamic preacher thrown out of Britain for inciting Muslims to violence and calling for the Islamisation of the UK (quote: 'The life of an unbeliever has no value, it has no sanctity'), wants the Royal Navy to evacuate him from the fighting in Lebanon.
Perry de Havilland rightly calls this "chutzpah."