Great Expectations from Lebanon

The escalating conflict in the Middle East is horrible. Everyone involved seems to ignore the rational and fuel the ongoing downward spiral. I don't pretend to understand it and will leave allocating blame to someone else. There is more than enough blame to go around.

I am amazed at the coordination effort that governments are putting together to get citizens out of Lebanon. I am, however, more amazed at the criticism that many people in Lebanon are levelling at Governments who are "not moving fast enough."

I remember when Canadians were trapped in Cancun during a Hurricaine and bemoaned the delay and cost in the Canadian government getting them home. I wondered then why it was the Canadian taxpayer's responsibility to get someone who got a good deal in hurricaine season to go sit on the beach and then are surprised when a hurricaine hits. Sure its nice to help but why bitch if it isn't fast enough. It was their choice and they should have understood the risk. The "safety net" shouldn't extend to hotels in Cancun.

It gets a bit more tricky in the war zone but conceptually its still the same. Face it, while Lebanon has been significantly more stable recently, it is still a higher risk spot. If you're a Canadian citizen who takes a holiday (whether six months or two weeks) in Lebanon and you get caught in a firefight, do you really have the right to bitch if it takes an extra day or two to get you out? Villages in southern Lebanon were acknowledged to be under Hezbollah control. Hezbollah launched an action and Israel responed. Clearly now an unpleasant place to be but these Canadian (and American )citizens went there by choice. Complaining the the government is taking too long to get them out seems a bit unreasonable. Appreciate the help and shut your gob. You chose to go there. The risk of bombing was higher there than heading to Sauble Beach for a couple of weeks of camping. I appreciate that many of these folks have been separated from family and want to go visit. I also appreciate that this is a remarkably dangerous and frightening situation. However, Canadian and American governments have not "abandonned" these folks in Lebanon. They went to Lebanon by choice and our governments are doing their best to help. This rescue is not an inalienable right of citizenship.