http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... ional/home
I don't even know which paragraphs to quote here since all of them reflect such poor management and decision-making.
We have the most or second-most citizens (some tourists, some dual citizens) in Lebanon, and we have the worst evacuation... late in planning, poor in execution. It's really quite sad and embarrassing.
Excerpts from the article:
"Micromanagement by the Prime Minister's Office and a lack of resources in Lebanon contributed to the confusion and anguish at Beirut's port Wednesday as Canadians trying to flee Israeli bombardments watched boats chartered by other nations sail away, leaving them behind."
...
“Well, it's fair to say that some Canadians arrived on Sunday, but only just,” said one diplomat involved in the operation. It was hard to find staff, since huge numbers of Foreign Affairs and embassy staff were on vacation, and many of the embassies were unable to spare workers. Of the approximately 36 people now working in Cyprus, the majority arrived Tuesday or yesterday."
...
"I haven't heard anything from the Canadians — they haven't even told us they're here,” Homer Mavrommatis, head of the Consular Affairs division for the Cypriot government, said Wednesday."
...
"All decisions had to be made and approved by Ottawa. And, with six time zones between the locations, decisions were often painfully slow.
While other countries were already marshalling large cruise ships on Sunday, Canada spent two days in long-distance discussions before any calls were made. “It was only 24 to 36 hours ago that we first got in contact with the owners of the ships,” one senior official in Cyprus said Wednesday. "
...
"On Tuesday night, they realized that the promise they'd made earlier — that there would be seven boats each transporting two loads of Canadians per day starting Wednesday — could never be met. There wouldn't be seven boats, and it appeared unlikely that even one of them would be able to make it across the Mediterranean by the end of last night.
But even as late as Wednesday morning, Canadian officials in Beirut were confidently telling reporters that all seven ships were on their way, and that they expected to get 2,000 people out of the country by sundown. Thursday, they had hoped to be moving something close to double that number."
"... on Tuesday, Ottawa abruptly switched the target of the evacuation from Cyprus to Turkey, where there are both hotel spaces and the facilities to quickly airlift evacuees to Canada using military or commercial planes.
Still, that switch took Canadian officials in Cyprus by surprise. Wednesday morning they prepared to move the Nicosia operation to Turkey."
...
"Suddenly, last night, they were told the Prime Minister would be visiting and that Canadians — any Canadians — would have to be brought to the port of Larnaca, Cyprus. They made an urgent request to the British government, which had been taking Britons on large naval vessels with military escorts to the western city of Limassol, to allow 120 Canadians to board one of the ships so that there would be some available to greet the Prime Minister and ride home on his Airbus jet."
...
"First, it turned out that 120 Canadians had not boarded the British vessel — at most, perhaps 20 were on board. The officials then scrambled to see whether the single Canadian-rented vessel that had reached Beirut, the Lebanese-licensed Blue Dawn, could sail more quickly to Larnaca to meet the Prime Minister.
>>Kathy's interpretation: "hurry, we set up a photo op, you have to get people here asap!"
"It quickly became apparent this wasn't going to happen. While Israel had guaranteed Canadians passage, the captain wasn't ready to move without military escort — and Canada couldn't deliver that. Hours passed. The sun set. And it wasn't until 11 p.m. in Beirut that the ship finally left the dock with 261 Canadians aboard."