More Americans set to leave Lebanon

BEIRUT, Lebanon - About 200 Americans gathered near the fortified U.S. Embassy compound Wednesday to be taken to Beirut’s port to board a ship out of war-torn Lebanon.

Worried about possible attacks on its ships, the U.S. Navy was publicly vague about details as it stepped up its efforts to evacuate Americans from Israeli-Hezbollah fighting.

Nearly a week into the violence, the evacuation has been criticized as slow and chaotic. Vice Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, the top U.S. naval officer in the Mideast, said nine Navy ships were en route to the area and officials had arranged for a second commercial ship to dock in Beirut.

“You will see a dramatic ramp-up (Wednesday),” promised Maura Harty, assistant secretary of state for consular affairs.

At least 350 Americans left Lebanon by sea and air Tuesday. The United States will be capable of evacuating more than 2,440 Americans mostly on commercial vessels from Lebanon on Wednesday, U.S. officials said.

Asked at a Pentagon press conference about the possibility of Hezbollah attacks on the operation, Walsh said: “I’m concerned about attacks on ships — you bet.”

He said that was one of the reasons the details he revealed were “the best I can give you conceptually, but they’re not going to reveal a lot of specific detail.”

Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, “We shall do whatever we can to make the voyage safe. And we shall participate clearly in helping them to go out as they want to.”

Asked Tuesday evening by Matthews on MSNBC’s “Hardball” whether the evacuees would be endangered by the Israeli bombing of Lebanon, Peres replied: “I don't think so. I think it's being coordinated and they will have a safe passage.”

Cruise ship docks
The Orient Queen, a Lebanese cruise ship under contract with the U.S. military, pulled into port in Beirut Tuesday night and would take on as many as 1,000 passengers and leave at first light, said Walsh. But there was no sign shortly after sunrise that the operation had begun.

He said a second commercial vessel, a Panamanian contracted cruise ship “SANKAK,” will also be used. That ship can hold about 1,400 passengers.

In addition to the nine U.S. ships on their way, a number of coalition ships were en route and included vessels from the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy.

Some of the U.S. ships will take passengers to Cyprus while others will provide escorts and protection for the commercial vessels ferrying the Americans out of Lebanon, Walsh said.

“You will see amphibious ships with American citizens on board,” he said.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said earlier that the U.S. was considering contracting with as many as four more commercial ships that could each carry between 200 and more than 1,000 passengers.

NBC: Evacuees won't have to pay
Late Tuesday NBC's Dawn Fratangelo confirmed that American evacuees would not have to sign promissory notes pledging repayment for passage.

An official told NBC that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has directed her staff to sign waivers so promissory notes will not be needed.

To get on board, Americans would have had to sign a note pledging to reimburse the U.S. government. They would have been charged the price of a single commercial flight from Beirut to Cyprus — usually $150-$200, although officials refused to specify.

If they had no money to fly onward, they also would have been asked to guarantee reimbursement of the price of an airline ticket from Cyprus to the United States.

In Washington, before Rice's action, White House spokesman Tony Snow said 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 said.

NBC News’ Pete Williams reports that federal law requires the government to charge passengers a fee no higher than the evacuated citizen would have paid for reasonable commercial air fare before the local situation deteriorated.

This is not a new requirement. During the first Gulf War, the State Department asked Americans who wanted to be evacuated from Saudi Arabia to sign promissory notes that they’d reimburse the government within 60 days.

If they have no way to fly onward, they also will be asked to reimburse the cost of an airline ticket from Cyprus to the United States.

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