Katrina-style evacuation of US citizens from Lebanon? Other countries are getting their nationals out faster, and the US has done it much faster in the past. What's up with this?

When I witnessed several hundred to a few thousand Americans evacuated from Albania in 1997, there were streams of Marine helicopters moving people to a US aircraft carrier in the sea non stop for three days until everybody was out. The evacuation began just a few days after Tirana airport was shut down by civil strife. It was all over in three days. This hadn't even begun til more than a week after Beirut airport was incapacitated and most major roads destroyed in air strikes. Other countries have organized ships for their nationals days earlier. From the Post:

On a sweltering day, Norwegian, Swedish, Greek and British ships pulled into Beirut's harbor, most of them trying to load their passengers before nightfall. From a helipad at the U.S. Embassy overlooking Beirut, the dull thud of rotors announced the arrival of helicopters, which ferried passengers to the island of Cyprus, taking 30 people on each trip. Other U.S. citizens waited, growing more frustrated over having to endure another day of a conflict that has begun to impose a wartime logic in the city.

Why does the US seemingly lag behind? It's hard to comprehend. It seems more a matter of will, organization and attention than capabilities, given its past performance in other such evacuation operations has been so much swifter, more efficient and outright impressive. Is the situation in Lebanon now more dangerous than in Albania in 1997? No doubt. All the more reason for Uncle Sam to have moved into action a bit more rapidly with more energy to protect some 23,000 nationals there, one might think? Even now, far as I understand, the cruiseship they've recruited holds some 1000 people, and takes 5 hours each way to Cyprus. That's 1000 people over 10 hours, with as many as 10,000 Americans who have called the US embassy asking for help getting out. If it runs the ship day and night, along with a few helicopters, the US will get out approximately 2,000 people a day; that means at least another five days to get those 10,000 out. Twelve days under air strikes, with about 30 civilians killed a day, has got to feel like a long time. Maybe they can put a few more ships online?

Update: AP - they'll move a 1,000 people out a day, 8,000 have indicated they want to leave, the embassy will stay open. Embassy says they don't have the capacity to organize the evacuation themselves, fortunately "the US government" does.

More from Garance Franke-Ruta, whose sources tell her the "'public diplomacy' issues raised by evacuating under Israeli assault are so complicated." Hence perhaps the US ambassador to Beirut's message in the AP piece above that so many Americans plan to stay in Lebanon and the embassy is staying open for business? And the Europeans were perhaps less sensitive to those public diplomacy concerns?

"In Beirut, a mother stayed as her children evacuated." Credit: Ali Haider/European Pressphoto Agency, NYT.

Posted by Laura at July 19, 2006 12:19 PM