No Charge To American Evacuees From Lebanon

The State Department reversed itself and decided that Americans in Lebanon would not be charged a fee for the expense of the U.S. military evacuating them. CNN reports:

In addition to frustrations at the pace of U.S. evacuations, others, especially Democratic lawmakers, expressed outrage that evacuees initially were going to have to pay to leave.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ended the controversy Tuesday night, using her authority under the law to waive the fees people would have paid to the government.

"She wanted to go the extra mile to remove any possible worries that people might have. She understands they're in a very difficult situation," McCormack said.

"Any American who wants to get out of Lebanon is going to have that opportunity. And there will be no charge for that."

That didn't take long.