Washington - With more than 25,000 Americans, including a number of New Jerseyans, stuck in Lebanon as armed conflict rages, United States Senators Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) urged the Bush administration to more quickly evacuate Americans seeking to leave Lebanon. European citizens in Beirut have largely been evacuated while Americans continue to wait for the U.S. to put its plan into effect.

It is deeply troubling that, seven days after the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah began, we have evacuated fewer than 200 American citizens, of the 25,000 who live and work in Lebanon. In our view, the U.S. State and Defense Departments have not moved quickly enough to evacuate our citizens, and we urge you to redouble your efforts without further delay and immediately present a finalized evacuation plan for the safe evacuation of the 15,000 Americans who have registered a desire to leave Lebanon, wrote the lawmakers.

Italy and France chartered ships and have already have moved some 1,600 Europeans to Cyprus, while Russia has finalized plans to evacuate 1,400 nationals from Lebanon; about 850 Swedes have been evacuated, mostly to Aleppo in northern Syria, and Denmark has evacuated 700 of its 2,300 of its citizens. Currently, fewer than 200 Americans out of 25,000 have been evacuated.

It is unfathomable why the U.S. with the most sophisticated military in the world lags behind a number of other countries that have already evacuated hundreds of their citizens, the lawmakers wrote.

Lautenberg and Menendez also said the State Department needs to do a better job of responding to citizens with family members in Lebanon. According to press reports, a New Jersey woman with two sons in Lebanon was placed on hold for 45 minutes when she called the State Departments evacuation hotline.

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