Failure

CNN.com – Americans irked by fee to flee Lebanon – Jul 18, 2006

Several of the Americans in Lebanon have written e-mails to CNN, expressing their frustration with the evacuation process.

“We are desperately trying to evacuate and have become more and more disappointed and angry with the way the evacuation is being handled,” said Lina Fleihan, of Greensboro, North Carolina. “We hear more about what’s going on from CNN than we do from the U.S. government and the American Embassy here.”

Natalie Kerlakian of Denver, Colorado, wrote that she has not heard from the embassy in a week.

“I hope this response will be better than that of Katrina,” she wrote, referring to the heavily criticized government response to the hurricane that struck the Gulf Coast in August.

Susan Omar, of Clifton, New Jersey, wrote that she has family stuck in the southern Lebanese city of Maryajoun, and her phone calls to various governments’ offices have been fruitless.

“We have begged and pleaded with anyone and everyone, but our kids still don’t have water, food or medicine,” she wrote. “The media is telling everyone that those with medical necessity have already been evacuated. I guess that only means those lucky enough to be near Beirut!”

Kellee Khalil of Los Angeles, California, wrote that she was trapped in Lebanon while vacationing with her father, who has diabetes and a heart condition.

“The embassy has not put him on a priority list,” he wrote. “It has been several days of airstrikes and the United States seems to care little about the 25,000 Americans that are trapped here.”