Americans stew over the pace of evacuation

The U.S. is asking citizens to pay the cost of their evacuation.
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- A cruise ship sailed into Beirut late Tuesday to begin shuttling thousands of Americans to safety from Mideast fighting, amid fierce criticism that the U.S. effort had lagged behind Europe's.
The commander of the Fifth Fleet said the ship would begin boarding evacuees at dawn.
"We're trying to move quickly, trying to move large numbers of people as fast as we can," said Vice Adm. Patrick Walsh, the top U.S. naval officer in the Middle East. A larger commercial vessel also would be used, he said. A Pentagon spokesman said the U.S. government was considering hiring as many as four more cruise ships to carry Americans.
Thousands of Europeans already have fled the country, which is under fierce Israeli air attack.
Plans
Earlier in the day, 320 Americans, mostly children, students and the elderly, left by military helicopter and a European ship. U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey D. Feltman told The Associated Press more than 1,000 Americans would depart today.
The White House defended asking Americans to reimburse the estimated $150 cost of their passage, and the ambassador said the evacuation's slow start was intended to safeguard Americans.
"We at the embassy don't have the experience to move a lot of people," Feltman said. "Luckily, the U.S. government does," he said. "Security and safe travel were what's on our minds."
An estimated 8,000 of the 25,000 Americans in Lebanon want to leave.
European countries began moving hundreds of their citizens to Cyprus on Monday. Nearly 1,000 were on a Swedish-chartered ship that left Beirut on Tuesday, and a British warship and Greek frigate transported nearly 600 of those countries' nationals away from Lebanon.
Six chartered passenger ships were to be in position off the coast of Lebanon today to begin evacuating up to 30,000 Canadians stranded in the crossfire. Authorities intend to evacuate some 4,500 a day, ferrying them to Cyprus. There are as many as 50,000 Canadian-Lebanese in Lebanon but it was unclear how many would want to be evacuated.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the primary concern was that people be taken out in a safe and organized manner. He said the Beirut port was working at a higher capacity than normal, making it challenging to get ships from various countries in and out.
The Orient Queen, the ship that docked late Tuesday, was carrying a number of Lebanese passengers, and "we needed to do some coordination" to allow them to pass through the Israeli naval blockade of Lebanon and leave the ship in Beirut, Whitman said.
Anger
Outside the gates of the U.S. Embassy, Californian Elie Kawkabani, who lives in Beirut, was angry about the delay.
"The embassy is providing us with sketchy information and they are being rude to us here at the gate," he said. "We have other options, like leaving through Syria, but they keep stringing us along day after day."
White House spokesman Tony Snow said the United States has determined it was not safe to travel by road, adding: "We understand the anxieties of people in Lebanon."
To get on board, Americans must sign a note pledging to reimburse the U.S. government. They will be charged the price of a single commercial flight from Beirut to Cyprus -- usually $150-$200, although officials refused to specify.
If they have no money to fly onward, they also will be asked to guarantee reimbursement of the price of an airline ticket from Cyprus to the United States.
Speaking to Pentagon reporters from Bahrain, Walsh said there were no plans yet to put U.S. Marines ashore in Beirut for security.