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The Evacuation of Canadians from Lebanon Thread

cameron said:
If those people driving around shouting Hezbollah slogans and calling for the annihilation of Israel feel that way, THEN WHY THE frig DON'T THEY GO BACK TO LEBANON AND FIGHT FOR HEZBOLLAH!!! :cdn: >:(

Too right!

They export their violence and hatred to our countries, then exploit it on TV with these, at times scary rallies. The males have their faces wrapped in those scarfs, just like the terrs ( Sorry Tamouh, I mean freedom fighters). The demonstrations in Sydney have caused millions of dollars of damage on occasion. No respect, just boiling with hatred, insighting fear and shock into mainstream Australians, who have frankly had a gutful with the lot.. One would swear he was in downtown Beruit! The last parade held in Sydney the other day had 15,000+ of them, but this time it was peaceful. This time.

Regards,

Wes
 
This whole situation just goes to show what's wrong with this country.  Try speaking frankly about it in public, and you'll come across as some kind of cracker.  What needs saying is that Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese government, and that acts of war like kidnapping soldiers brings retaliatory acts of war.  This isn't just more 'tit for tat' violence.
It is sad to say that fight is coming here by the boatload, and no one in the media realizes it.
 
Isn't it a great thing that we have Freedom of Speech and some of these "hyphenated foreigners" are preaching racial hatred under the free speech banner.  If any normal Canadian spouted this type of garbage, we'd be in jail.  Try going back to your homeland and spout the same stuff, see how far you get.  I'm tired of immigrants complaining about Canada and upholding thier country of origin as the greatest place on earth. If you don't like it here, go back! 
I was born and mostly raised in the UK, my family immigrated to Canada in the late 60's.  I AM Canadian. Strangely I swore and oath to the Queen, what would happen if Canada and the UK went to war???  Half a breath, fight for Canada.  :cdn:
As for the media, we all know that some of the outlets look for the negative and roll with that for ratings. Even if you were to risk your life saving a stranger, the media would turn it around and crap on you for mouthing expletives while giving mouth to mouth and CPR.  Most of the evacuees are probably very happy to be on safe ground, and the media went after the one who spouted off about the travel conditions.  What would they say if we sent Hercs over to get them out.  "Oh Dear, we had to face sideways and it was bumpy and we had to eat stale sandwiches" And crap all over the government for using outdated equipment.  Hold it, maybe that's not a bad idea........?
 
Meanwhile in Australia, the government of New South Wales has authorised mental health councillers to council those back from Lebanon, all at the taxpayers expense of course, and I wonder how many will now 'claim' they now have PTSD or are now traumatised and can't work. It looks like we'll be paying for more than we thought or should.

Let me see, ships to other destinations, then chartered aircraft to Australia, then mental health, and now they'll ride the dole to again milk us more more, then they'll complain. Its a never ending cycle of taking us for a ride!

Recently in Sydney (from the Fairfiled suburb of western Sydney) a family who proudly flew an Australian flag on a flagpole in their front yard were approached by NSW police, and asked to take the flag down because it was antagonising local ethnic islamic youth and causing unrest in the community.

Can you believe that? Asked to lower your own country's flag because it offends people who now live here, accept our dole, and rape us for all they can, now those same people whinge and complain on conditions during their journey back to Australia for Lebanon, and clam we did not help them enough.

I, like others am sick of it!

What next.

Shakes head (in TOTAL disgust),


Wes
 
From http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1153518611691&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1014656511815
One Canadian's story about why she is in Lebanon.

I found this sentence interesting
Then, in the middle of my workday one week ago, an alarm went off in the office and we were told not to go outside.

Seven Israeli soldiers had been killed and two taken hostage; there was celebratory shooting going on nearby.

And this:
The majority of the Lebanese do not naturally support Hezbollah, but Israeli attacks are rallying support. I am staying in a dorm at the American University of Beirut, and even these least radical Lebanese were joyful when Hezbollah hit an Israeli warship.

 
Note the military in civvies mentioned (CP photo attached).....

Shared in accordance with the "fair dealing" provisions, Section 29, of the [http://www.cb-cda.gc.ca/info/act-e.html#rid-33409|Copyright Act.]

Canadians safe after dramatic rescue in violent southern city
Les Perraux and Alex Panetta, Canadian Press, 24 Jul 06
http://www.recorder.ca/cp/National/060724/n0724133A.html

BEIRUT (CP) - Canadian soldiers made a perilous journey into Hezbollah territory Monday to whisk stranded Canadians from the most violent city in the fight in southern Lebanon.

A dozen civilians were outnumbered by about 15 Canadian military personnel, including several in plain clothes, as they rushed onto a ship in Tyre, a southern Lebanon port reduced to ruin by constant Israeli bombardment.

As bombs fell a few hundred metres away, several hundred refugees including the Canadians climbed into life rafts and were ferried to the Princesa Marissa anchored off shore. The ship did not even attempt to dock to stay clear of the blasts.

"It was 13 days of bombing - every day, night and day," Adouy Ali of Montreal told reporters dockside in Cyprus. His pregnant wife and two children were with him.

"That's why we're tired, and the kids are tired too. The sentiment is very angry because everything is against the civilians. And the civilians - all the people dying are civilians -every day."

The rescue also took place under a hail of leaflets dropped by an Israeli plane. Guerrillas answered with a small arms fire.

The high-risk, high-security rescue was a sharp contrast with the sleepy atmosphere at the main Canadian evacuation centre in Beirut on Monday.

There officials decided to throw the doors open to anyone with a Canadian passport who wants to leave to speed up the process in the capital where bombing is sporadic and early panic has disappeared.

Having anchored in both spots, the crew of the Princesa Marissa said urgency was in the air in Tyre compared to laid-back Beirut.

The ship is expected to return to Tyre Wednesday, this time chartered by the Canadian government, to pick up Canadians stranded in the country's south.

Crew members of the Cypriot ship chartered by the European Union could smell the plumes of smoke from bombed-out buildings as Israeli forces pounded a series of targets with a half dozen bombs apiece.

"Here we saw bombs 500 metres away," said Yiannis Ioannou, a cook on the ship who prepared a buffet for the evacuees.

"In Beirut, you see nothing. (In Tyre) you see (bombs) always hitting the same targets. Always six bombs hitting the same place."

Added another crew member: "In Beirut, you dock. In Tyre, you stay somewhere in the middle of the sea."

Ship Capt. Kyriakos Papaevrides said the trip was dangerous but necessary. "Somebody has to go," he said. "Somebody has to help the people. We put ourselves in danger to help the people."

As the ship arrived in Cyprus, security personnel pulled away journalists and Papaevrides scolded his crew members for giving out their names.

Ali said other Canadians still need help. He wonders how people will get to the port.

"There are still Canadians over there," he said. "They can't go out from their village. I know two friends of mine are in Al-Masha'ib. They can't move from there."

While the south is paralyzed demand for rescue has started to fade among Canadians in Beirut.

Foreign Affairs staff have offered safe passage to more than half of the 39,000 Canadian citizens in the country as of Monday, the last day they asked people to wait for the embassy to call.

Only 7,500 have taken up the offer. Canadian Ambassador Louis de Lorimier says the evacuation will continue until every citizen who wants to leave is gone.

"We will be evacuating people all week," de Lorimier said. "Demand is less. No doubt some people have left on their own. Some people have probably decided on their own to stay."

Some 1,187 Canadians were taken from Beirut on Monday, less than half of Sunday's number.

The decision to change the evacuation procedure - offering passage to all passport-holders who turn up instead of just those contacted by the embassy - was explained at a Foreign Affairs background briefing in Ottawa.

"We find we are contacting people who have left. Instead of expending a lot of time and effort to do that, we feel we should send out a message to those who might want to leave," said an official who spoke on condition he not be named.

As for those in the south who wish to leave from Tyre: "Canadian citizens were advised last night that they and their dependents should go directly to the port of Tyre on Wednesday morning, July 26, and not wait for further communication from our embassy in Beirut."

Officials asked the media to help get the word out to Lebanese in Canada who may be in contact with family and friends in Tyre.

As for the security risk of boarding passengers at Tyre, one of the officials said: "Us ensuring the safety of anyone in the south would be very difficult."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper "buoyed spirits" and thanked staff during a visit to the evacuation operations centre on Monday in Ottawa, one official said.

"He told everyone to work hard and keep up the good work," during what has been called the largest evacuation of its kind in Canadian history.

Harper has conceded that Foreign Affairs staff on the ground have been over-stretched and working punishing hours.

As for the risk that terrorists could have hitched a government-paid ride to Canada on false passports, officials at the briefing insisted that documents have been checked in Lebanon with the same vigilance as would be the case for anyone entering Canada.

Officials said it's too early to offer even an estimate of what the evacuation effort has cost so far.
---

 
milnewstbay said:
Note the military in civvies mentioned (CP photo attached).....

I'm certain they'd have preferred not to have been noted :)
 
BBC had footage of MPs escorting people in small boat out to cruise liner last night.  Nice new temperate CADPAT flak vests.
Good job on them keeping their cool when faced with hysterical people screaming and grabbing at them.

D
 
BBC showed video of German troops taking all comers with valid passports of all nationalities, and the folks really WERE rippin' into them, physically, especially those who didn't have their babies on their passports, having to leave them behind.  Hate to sound callous, but that's what happens when you let this stuff lapse....

Good on all the troops who participated!
 
It started off describing Germans, but you could see the top of a tacvest on one of the "Germans" and when it went to ships boat one guy turned you could see the cap badge.

Here's the report, looks like it's been corrected (at least in some of the text) regarding the German/Canadian thing since last night.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/ukfs_news/hi/bb_rm_fs.stm?news=1&bbram=1&bbwm=1&nbram=1&nbwm=1&nol_storyid=5211606

(Need Realplayer...bleh...to show it)

Edit: Original link doesn't work...trying to fix it.  Sort of works now

Edit2: Horrible spelling.
 
Again as usual Canadian troops doing a fine job! I hate to pat a MP on the back but that guy who was in the life raft with the old lady deserves a hearty well done keeping his cool. So hear it goes who ever you are Cdn MP in life boat, well done and to the rest well done. :salute: :cdn:
 
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060725.w2evacuate0725/BNStory/International/home

Tyre — Tyre was under constant aerial bombardment by Israeli forces on Tuesday, a day before a ship chartered by Ottawa is to try to evacuate Canadians from the southern Lebanese port.

There are an estimated 1,000 Canadians still trapped in the dangerous southern part of the country, though Foreign Affairs officials said Monday that there was no way to guarantee safe passage from the border villages.

Canadian soldiers made a perilous journey into Hezbollah territory Monday to whisk stranded Canadians from the most violent city in the fight in southern Lebanon. A dozen civilians were outnumbered by about 15 Canadian military personnel, including several in plain clothes, as they rushed onto a ship in Tyre, which has been reduced to ruin by constant Israeli bombardment.

On Tuesday, the sound of Israeli jets and helicopters filled the sky as smoke from air strikes drifted over the city.

The Canadian embassy said it had no idea how many people would try to reach the ship in Tyre on Wednesday.

But it was clear that the number of Canadians desperate to escape through Beirut was dwindling. Fewer than 1,200 people boarded Canadian ships leaving Lebanon Monday, down substantially from the 2,415 who left Sunday.

"We are putting out a call to all remaining Canadians who wish to leave," one senior government official told a briefing Monday. They should "report to Beirut or Tyre so they can be put on boats." Those leaving through Beirut were asked to arrive by 9 a.m. Tuesday.

In the first chaotic days of the evacuation, the Canadians eager to escape the bombing had been told to wait until they were contacted before arriving at the port.

There will be no more direct communication between the embassy and those who indicate a desire to leave, said the official, adding that members of the Foreign Affairs staff have spent much time trying to reach people, only to find that they have already left the country.

As bombs fell a few hundred metres away on Monday, several hundred refugees -- including about a dozen Canadians -- climbed into life rafts and were ferried to the Princesa Marissa anchored off shore. The ship did not even attempt to dock to stay clear of the blasts.

The rescue also took place under a hail of leaflets dropped by an Israeli plane. Guerrillas answered with a small arms fire 
 
Quagmire said:
So out of the 50,000 Canadians how many have left.

From what I can find out through new reports, etc. about 8-9 thousand, give or take.
 
http://www.torontosun.ca/News/Canada/2006/07/31/1711378-sun.html

Mon, July 31, 2006
Evacuees' free ride ripped

By TOM GODFREY, TORONTO SUN




Ottawa is being urged to impose a fee to cover emergency rescue costs for thousands of Canadians who obtain passports and return to live in their native countries.

The issue outraged Canucks after Foreign Affairs in Ottawa admitted 50,000 people with Canadian passports were in Lebanon and many had not been in Canada or paid taxes here or years.

More than 12,000 Lebanese-Canadians have now been evacuated from that war-torn country and returned to Canada in boats chartered by the government.

'INSURANCE PREMIUM'

Richard Kurland, a Montreal lawyer and immigration policy expert who's spearheading the fee campaign, said the extra cost would apply to those who haven't paid taxes in Canada for five years.

"If people who don't live here and never file tax returns want to use Canadian passports as insurance passports, make them pay an insurance premium," he said last week.

The proposal has been circulated to all federal government offices dealing with passports and the Prime Minister's Office.

Kurland said the fee, which is estimated at $50 yearly, will apply for Canadians who obtain a passport and leave.

"They should pay into the Canadian coffers," he said. "It's unreasonable for people to expect services without making a contribution."

Foreign Affairs refused to comment on the plan.

Passport Canada spokesman James Leveque said his agency administers Passport Act regulations and doesn't set policy.

AGAINST TWO-TIER

NDP immigration critic Bill Siksay said he is against the idea of two-tier citizenship.

"There shouldn't be a monetary component to become a citizen," Siksay said
 
Octavianus said:
AGAINST TWO-TIER

NDP immigration critic Bill Siksay said he is against the idea of two-tier citizenship.

"There shouldn't be a monetary component to become a citizen," Siksay said

Odd and I thought I paid taxes to the Government to be a citizen of Canada???

Well boy's there you have it no need to pay your taxes but you can still reap all the benefit's of being a citizen and none of the burden.
 
Makes sense to me, nothing in this world is set in stone but death and taxes as the saying goes. Kind of relevant to Lebanon isnt it? Either stay there and pick the first option or come here and take up the second. Nothing nasty meant there by the way.
 
There's not a money component to being a citizen

HELL.. I'm not paying taxes then..  and I'm going to quote that MP!

(I'll probably just be a citizen in jail though.. but that's OK.. they need ministry in jail too)
 
Trinity said:
(I'll probably just be a citizen in jail though.. but that's OK.. they need ministry in jail too)

Hmph...they done got religion coming out of their ears already....ask any parole board..their interviewees have all found religion and are going to walk the straight and narrow.
 
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