‘Second class Americans’? US fails to rescue its citizens in Yemen

[DeSwiss]

- They're not from Wall Street. If they were, they'd be out of there by now......

[jtuck004]

1. "Security considerations" - i.e, poor planning? Or too used to using American citizens as food?

We are supplying Saudi weapons, used on our own citizens in Yemen.

Bad policy to fail at this. And if there is some reason they can't leave, maybe there is an equally good reason that we should refrain from shooting at them.

[newthinking]

4. I would say the second. We used to use our empathy to determine our approach

If Russia and India can help their citizens than surely we can. It seems we are too busy using all that "humanitarian" money these days on war and cannot even spare a small fraction of those resources to help our fellow citizens and families.

[jberryhill]

2. They were told to leave months ago

Feb. 11:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/feb/11/yemen-houthi-rebels-seize-us-marines-weapons/

Yemen’s Houthi rebels seized weapons from U.S. Marines as well as several vehicles used by Americans stationed at the now-closed U.S. Embassy in Sana’a.

It wasn’t immediately clear what types of weapons and vehicles were seized.

An unidentified Sana'a airport official confirmed that the rebel forces took control of the U.S. Embassy vehicles, which were parked at the airport, United Press International reported. The same official also said that the Houthi rebels seized several weapons used by U.S. Marines who were trying to abide by a White House order and leave the country.

Ummm, yeah, two months after the rebels have seized US Embassy vehicles and Marine weapons, I guess someone should be picking them up at their homes.

Here is the roster of warnings going back quite some time:

http://yemen.usembassy.gov/yemen/citizen_services.html

Emergency Message for U.S. Citizens
April 13, 2015
The U.S. government has been informed that another Indian naval ship, the Sumitra, is currently in Hodeidah and will be departing for Djibouti either tonight or tomorrow.


Emergency Message for U.S. Citizens
April 9, 2015
The U.S. government has been informed that an Indian naval vessel is currently in Hodeidah and will be departing tonight for Djibouti. Additionally, there is another Indian naval leaving Djibouti tonight bound for Aden. We do not have any contact for these vessels but have been told that U.S. citizen families, including Yemeni family members, will be allowed to board. Travelers must have a valid U.S. or Yemeni passport.

Emergency for U.S. Citizen: Additional Departure Information
April 6, 2015
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is planning to arrange a flight from Sana'a to Djibouti the week of April 6. U.S. citizens in Yemen who wish to avail themselves of this opportunity should contact 0020121536128 or 00201021536188. The Department of State cannot guarantee that all U.S. citizens seeking to depart via an IOM flight can be accommodated. All U.S. citizens seeking to depart require valid U.S. passports.

Emergency Message for U.S. Citizens - Updated Departure Options
April 6, 2015
The Indian government has offered to assist U.S. citizens who want to depart Yemen for Djibouti. This potentially includes flights out of Sana’a and ships from Aden. U.S. citizens wishing to take advantage of this opportunity should contact First Secretary Raj Kopal at the Indian Embassy in Sana’a at 00967 734 000 657; you may be required to present a valid U.S. passport for boarding. The next flights from Sana’a are scheduled to depart early on April 7. The Department of State cautions that U.S. citizens should consider carefully the risks of traveling to or within Sana’a and Aden in order to board evacuation transport given security conditions in both cities.

[newthinking]

3. They sure as hell should help them. It is easy to "armchair" criticize

people in difficult situations (like Republicans do to the poor?)

It is the bombing by SA that has escalated things and was unexpected.

We are entirely loosing our empathy (humanity) and this is a perfect example. Other countries understand this. There are those for whom it is not so easy to just leave, or with family members who are in the midst of getting out but the immigration system is still doing the paperwork. There are lot of other reasons that it is not "easy" to leave family members as long as there is hope that the danger would stay away

Other countries will also evacuate non resident immediate family of their citizens (and figure out how to deal with the paperwork later). Our country has a policy where they don't even have a good system to rush citizen's spouses and children in serious situations. (although businesses have lots of options).

We have tons of money and resources to fucking bomb people, but just sending in a few planes or ships is like pulling teeth. This is not what we used to do. It is the new American way and needs to be changed. We are only hurting ourselves!

[Historic NY]

5. What part of GTFO is missing in those messages....

[Nitram]

6. the U.S. governmenet warned them ages ago to leave.

They also offered to arrange passage with other countries' evacuation ships. Some people are too stubborn for their own good.