PRESIDENT BUSH must order the U.S. ambassador in Lebanon to evacuate American personnel immediately. They are all potential hostages or casualties caught in a crossfire.
Picture the scene in Saigon in April 1975 — a helicopter sits atop a building, and a long line of people waits to board. For the 25,000 Americans now in Lebanon, that terrifying image could be reality within days.
Every once in a while something triggers that haunting picture in my mind. My family was fortunate to have gotten out earlier. I was 10 when U.S. forces evacuated us from Saigon before it was overrun by the North Vietnamese army. We heeded the early warnings. The president of South Vietnam had already resigned, and the panic in Saigon was palpable. A million refugees had fled toward the capital, and the fighting was then less than 15 miles away. We could hear the artillery shells exploding in the distance. Looking out the dirty window of the C-130 aircraft that night, I saw nothing but a faint orange glow bruising the dark sky.
The majority of the 125,000 refugees who escaped fled in boats or planes. The people who waited until the last day had to scramble to board those departing U.S. helicopters, with priority given to procrastinating Americans who had had ample time to leave earlier.
LA Times
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