 |
Dick and Jane went on a vacation.
They paid their round-trip airfare.
Never did it enter their minds that
anyone else might pay. Bob and Sue's employer sent them on a
business trip. Their employer paid the round-trip airfares. Never
did it enter their minds that anyone else might pay. In the midst of
war, the US is evacuating people foolish enough to have over-stayed
their welcome in Lebanon. |
|
War has erupted again in the
Middle East. The region has been at war numerous times over
thousands of years. This latest eruption should surprise no one.
Certainly no one who has been in the region over recent weeks should
be surprised. Certainly no one on earth with a radio, TV, or
Internet access should be surprised. |
|
Anyone who has been vacationing,
visiting, or doing business in Lebanon, Israel, and bordering
nations over recent weeks knew what was developing. Everyone has had
fair warning and plenty of time to calmly voluntarily leave the
region. The US State Department has been issuing warnings and
advisories regarding Lebanon stating that "leaving should be
seriously considered". |
|
In recent days, the fighting has erupted into at
least a war-like condition. Suddenly, the media has expressed shock
and outrage that the US is actually going to charge evacuees to be
evacuated. |
|
Who is this US? It is American men and women serving
on warships, military helicopters, and privately owned ships leased
to the US specifically for this evacuation and paid for by US
taxpayers. The Americans operating that equipment are entering a war
zone not to fight, but to rescue people who have stayed too long.
People who chose to stay too long are now being rescued by the US. |
| Nine
military ships, including a helicopter carrier and a dock landing
ship, and thousands of Marines and sailors were involved in a US
operation expected to evacuate 8,000 people. |
|
Who would even think that the US should provide men,
women, ships, and planes to transport individuals who chose to stay
too long in the midst of escalating fighting? It is fantastic that
the US is able and willing to execute this evacuation. There is
every reason that vacationing, visiting, and working people should
pay their way to be evacuated by US taxpayers. In fact, evacuees
should pay extra fees for being evacuated in the midst of war! |
|
No one should be astonished that the US government is
requiring individuals who freely went to, stayed, and waited for war
conditions to worsen, to pay a reasonable fee for evacuation. The US
cannot pay for everyone's mistakes and misjudgments. If it even
tried to, it would have a budget deficit as large as it has today
from paying entitlements, liberating various peoples around the
world, and maintaining itself domestically. |
|
Anyone evacuated from Lebanon these days by the
always-ready-to-assist United States of America, should be very
grateful that they will be rescued by the US military forces. A
rational person being rescued would gladly pay for this war-time
rescue. They were planning to pay for their return home to somewhere
someday anyway. Don't we all? |
|
|