[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15559]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




THE PROTECTION AND EVACUATION OF AMERICAN CITIZENS FROM THE MIDDLE EAST 
                                CONFLICT

  Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to speak out of turn.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from 
Illinois is recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, the Nation has been focused on the war 
declared by Hezbollah against Israel this past week. And while most of 
the media focused on stories of the conflict in Israel or Lebanon, they 
have not covered an aspect of the story critical to our fellow 
citizens, the protection and evacuation of American citizens from this 
conflict.
  On the day that Hezbollah started this war, we estimated that there 
were over 20,000 Americans in Lebanon.

                              {time}  2000

  I want to first commend our ambassador in Lebanon and the U.S. 
embassy team in Beirut for rapidly assembling the plans and data on the 
Americans to be saved. The U.S. Government regularly plans and 
sometimes executes what is called a noncombatant evacuation operation, 
or NEO in Pentagon parlance, to rescue Americans abroad. The scale of 
the Lebanese NEO was very, very large. This operation, assembled on 
very short notice, responded remarkably to a rapidly changing, massive 
movement of our fellow citizens.
  Some of the unsung heroes of the Lebanon NEO are the men and women of 
the United States Navy and Marine Corps. I want to give special thanks 
to the crews of the USS Nashville, the USS Trenton, and the USS Whidbey 
Island. Along with the merchant vessel Orient, the crews of these U.S. 
navy vessels rescued thousands of Americans from Lebanon over the last 
several days. The crews of these ships were backed by U.S. Marines 
flying helicopters to save the people in most urgent need.
  I also want to thank the men and women of the U.S. Transportation 
Command who arranged military airlifts for Americans living in Cyprus, 
and now Turkey, to complete their trips home to the U.S.A.
  We must also note the outstanding contribution of the State of 
Maryland and its governor, Governor Ehrlich, who welcomed them at 
Baltimore Washington International Airport.
  Mr. Speaker, Dr. John Michael of my district called me from Lebanon 
to ask for his support. I arranged for his registration and quick 
contact with the U.S. embassy there. Thanks to the work of the United 
States Navy, the Marine Corps, the State Department and the 
Transportation Command, Dr. Michael, his wife Christine and their 
children, Daniel, Ramson, Edessan and Kamber, all from my district, 
were caught in Lebanon, but now were rescued by the U.S. military and 
State Department. But for this operation, they might still be in harm's 
way, but thanks to the work of these professionals, the men and women 
of the State Department, Navy and Marine Corps, they are home in the 
United States.
  Mr. Speaker, we have saved over 5,000 Americans to date, and I am 
told today that the number of Americans seeking to leave Lebanon is now 
declining. We will soon be the first Nation to use this large 
logistical effort to begin a massive humanitarian aid lift to support 
the people of Lebanon itself.
  Mr. Speaker, take a moment tonight to thank the young Americans who 
serve on the Nashville, Whidbey Island and Trenton. Due to their 
training and professionalism, they were there exactly when thousands of 
their fellow American citizens needed them to escape from Lebanon.

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