One of the Americans stuck in Beirut is Anthony Bourdain.

USE ALL MEANS NECCESSARY.

Interesting side note--the U.S. is charging Americans for the costs of their evacuation!

"The Department of State reminds American citizens that the U.S. government does not provide no-cost transportation but does have the authority to provide repatriation loans to those in financial need. For the portion of your trip directly handled by the U.S. Government we will ask you to sign a promissory note and we will bill you at a later date. In a subsequent message, when we have specific details about the transporation arrangments, we will inform you about the costs you will incur."

Well, on the one hand, they gummint had already issued a travel advisory for Lebanon, so I guess they can balk at paying for evacuees who went anyway.

On the other hand, that advisory states that the gummint forbids US airliners from flying into/out of Beirut, and it also says that restrictions on the movements of US consular employees and "limited staffing may hinder timely assistance to Americans in Lebanon."

So basically: "You're screwed, but maybe we'll help you.... For a price."

I'm pretty sure that this "Bourdain" fellow actually instigated this current conflict.

From what I know of Bourdain, cmonkey, that's entirely possible.

I do love his show, though. His trip to Iceland was a hoot.

You're half right about Bourdain. It's acutally Mark Burnett who's pulling all the strings.

And if anyone can explain Simon Cowell's involvement, I'd be grateful.

This surely means things are just going to get worse. Great.

My dad just told me that a Lebanese-American colleague of his is there now--apparently his wife goes back every year to visit her family.

Ugh.

Canada is going to be using cruise ships as well starting tomorrow.

Condi takes it back.