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The French are feeling altruistic these days. The government has decided to absorb all the costs associated with evacuating French citizens from Lebanon. The American government has taken a different route. The US government will ask each person it evacuates to sign a promissory note that they will repay all the costs associated with the evacuation.
I was listening to NPR today and a few people called in regarding their thoughts. One person suggested that the US send the bill to Israel because it’s responsible for the bombings (or just subtract the cost from the annual foreign assistance given to the country which amounts to somewhere between $1 billion and $4 billion depending on how you calculate the aid), while another caller countered that the US should send the bill to the Lebanese government.
It is unfortunate that foreigners are stuck in the middle of the conflict, but ultimately, there is a risk to all travel, especially to countries where the State department has issued travel warnings (before this current conflict). I think the current policy makes the most sense. However, for folks who cannot afford the expensive evacuation (though people could have bought evacuation insurance–yes those exist), the government should set up a low interest or interest free payment schedule. I suppose that could be altruism, capitalism-style.
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I wonder if the State Dept. should require people to sign a promisary note before entering a country with an existing travel warning. Or if evacuation insurance should be required.
While the patriotic part of me wants the U.S. to rescue any citizen just because they are a citizen, something does feel odd about spending X thousand (or tens of thousands) of dollars to evacuate a citizen who is travelling at their own risk.
The only exception that I could see was for gov’t employees & people working in humanitarian relief - NGO’s, Christians, etc. - since they are providing a service in the country. But tourists & even journalist should pay for their own evacuation.