U.S. picks up pace of evacuations in Lebanon

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The United States stepped up efforts Tuesday to evacuate U.S. citizens from Lebanon to Cyprus as complaints grew that the effort was slow getting started and appeared poorly organized.

About 120 Americans were flown by helicopter out of Lebanon on Tuesday, bringing the total number of Americans evacuated since fighting began last week to about 180, U.S. defense officials said.

The State Department, however, said Tuesday that 350 Americans had been evacuated so far.

Up to 1,000 more are expected to leave today for Cyprus aboard a U.S.-chartered cruise ship that docked in Beirut late Tuesday.

Thousands of Europeans already have fled the country.

Vice Adm. Patrick Walsh, commander of the U.S. Fifth Fleet, defended evacuation efforts, but he acknowledged the evacuation didn't begin until six days into the crisis.

"We are moving as quickly as we can," he said by videoconference from his headquarters in Bahrain. "It's a complex operation that involves an extraordinary level of effort. We're sending the very best that we have available, and we'll move at max speed."

Walsh said that in addition to the Greek ship Orient Queen, six Navy warships from the USS Iwo Jima strike group were en route from the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba to take part in the operation. Three more were en route from Europe, Walsh said.

All have orders to take U.S. citizens, he said. The first ship should be off the Lebanese coast today, he added.

"Remember, we do have a time-distance problem here," Walsh said. "We've got vessels coming all the way from the Indian Ocean."

The U.S. Embassy in Beirut urged Americans on Friday to consider leaving Lebanon. The next day, embassy officials said they were working with the Pentagon on a plan to help people evacuate.

But many Americans in Beirut expressed frustration, saying they hadn't been told when they'd be able to leave or how they'd be evacuated.

"The embassy was just sending us e-mails occasionally, telling us that they are making plans to evacuate us," said Kristen Trotter, 21, who was working in Lebanon as an intern at a local newspaper. "All that they mention is plans. They never mention to us what to do."

Alexandria Augustine, 20, who's attending the American University of Beirut, voiced similar concerns.

"We know that the U.S. Embassy is working hard to evacuate us, but it was very difficult to get hold of them in the past [few] days," she said.

Raba Letteri, a child-care provider from Reston, Va., who was on vacation in Lebanon with her husband and two children, said, "I had to come and cry at the door of the U.S. Embassy, kissing hand and foot, telling them they must let me leave.

The U.S. ambassador said the evacuation's slow start was intended to safeguard Americans.

"We at the embassy don't have the experience to move a lot of people," U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman said. "Luckily, the U.S. government does," he said. "Security and safe travel were what's on our minds."

An estimated 25,000 Americans live in Lebanon, many with dual citizenship, according to the State Department. U.S. officials estimate up to 5,000 are planning to leave, but Walsh said he expected that number to grow if conditions worsened.

European countries began moving hundreds of their citizens to Cyprus on Monday. Nearly 1,000 were on a Swedish-chartered ship that left Beirut on Tuesday, and a British warship and Greek frigate transported nearly 600 of those countries' nationals away from Lebanon.

Six chartered passenger ships were to be in position off Lebanon today to begin evacuating up to 30,000 Canadians stranded in the crossfire. Authorities intend to evacuate some 4,500 a day, ferrying them to Cyprus. There are up to 50,000 Canadian-Lebanese in Lebanon, but it was unclear how many would want to be evacuated.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the primary concern was to evacuate people safely and in an organized manner. He said the Beirut port was working at a higher capacity than normal, making it challenging to get ships from various countries in and out.

The Orient Queen, which docked late Tuesday, was carrying a number of Lebanese passengers, and "we needed to do some coordination" to allow them to pass through the Israeli naval blockade of Lebanon and leave the ship in Beirut, Whitman said.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said the United States has determined it was not safe to travel by road, adding: "We understand the anxieties of people in Lebanon."

After criticism from Congress, the State Department dropped plans to ask Americans to pay for their rides on commercial vessels.

Earlier, authorities planned to make Americans sign a note pledging to reimburse the U.S. government before they boarded rescue vessels and helicopters. They were charging the price of a single commercial flight from Beirut to Cyprus, usually $150 to $200, although officials refused to specify.

Before the State Department dropped the plan, Snow defended it by saying the government had to charge evacuees because of a 2003 law.

"I dare say that it's something that is causing heartburn for a number of people, but it's the law," he said.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi objected, saying it was not Congress' intent to prevent evacuations by making people sign a commitment to pay.

"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," Pelosi told CNN.

Some other European countries, including the Netherlands, said they asked for repayment but did not expect it in many cases.

Great Britain sent six warships to take part in evacuation. Spain and Italy also sent naval vessels, Walsh said, though he didn't specify how many, and he didn't say whether they'd assist in evacuating Americans.

Four of the U.S. Navy warships are amphibious ships that can accommodate up to 1,000 people each, the admiral said. Although the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit is aboard ships in the area, Walsh said no U.S. troops would be put on the ground in Lebanon unless security conditions worsened. So far, foreign evacuations have proceeded without trouble.

Foreigners trapped in Lebanon since the fighting with Israel began a week ago can't fly out of Beirut because Israel bombed the airport's runways. Some Americans fled to Syria by road, but the State Department has advised against that because of the threat of more Israeli airstrikes.

Material from The Associated Press and The Washington Post

is included in this report.