Clear Call To Action

This issue of getting American citizens out of Lebanon, in this developing war zone, transcends all partisan lines. We must not hurt Americans by inaction. A story posted on CNN.com tells of one family that spent $3,200 on taxis to cross Lebanon to get to the US Embassy. This was not even to get out of Lebanon, it was to get to where they thought they could get help from the US Embassy, while still IN Lebanon. This shouldn't be happening to a country as powerful as the United States. We must intact different plans and policies which expedite the process of evacuating our citizens from areas of instability, such as in Lebanon. One step that the United States took was to wave the evacuation fee. As Rep. Nancy Pelosi put it "A nation that can provide more than $300 billion for a war in Iraq can provide the money to get its people out of Lebanon." This is a step in the right direction, but still for many American citizens in the area, it is not yet enough to get them out of Lebanon.

"CNN's Kyra Phillips spoke Thursday in Atlanta with Andy Sheikali, whose wife, Fadia, is trying to get out of Lebanon with their four children and three other relatives. Having escaped southern Lebanon, Fadia Sheikali joined the interview via telephone from outside the U.S. Embassy in Beirut.

[Talking To Fadia]

PHILLIPS: How did you finally get there, Fadia?

F. SHEIKALI: I told my sister-in-law, "That's it. We can't wait any more because the kids getting very scared."

And we called just two taxis. And we paid them a lot of money. And we told them, we need to leave. And they came. And it was 10 last night when we left the south of Lebanon. ...

There was ... no one on the road. We were the only two cars. ... And the kids were very scared. And we thought we were going to be bombed any minute. But thank God, we get to Beirut safe. ...

Today, we went down to the embassy. ... They told us: you have to register. And we told them, you know, we came from south of Lebanon. ...

We thought, they are going to help us. They are going to do something because we had been stuck for seven days up there. And the only thing they told us, "We can't do anything now. ... It might take three to four days, OK, until you hear from us."

[Now Talking To Andy]

PHILLIPS: Do you mind if I ask how much it cost?

A. SHEIKALI: It was $1,600, each car.

PHILLIPS: Wow.

A. SHEIKALI: So, there's $3,200. ..."

For the complete transcript click on the following link at CNN.com