Menendez Speaks with Senior State Department Official About New Jerseyans in Lebanon

MENENDEZ SPEAKS WITH SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ABOUT NEW JERSEYANS IN LEBANON

Lawmaker phones Under Secretary of State Burns to express urgency of evacuating Garden State residents

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) late yesterday expressed to Under Secretary of State R. Nicholas Burns the immediacy of evacuating New Jerseyans who are still stranded in Lebanon. Menendez's office has been in contact with family members of New Jersey residents stranded in the Lebanon region. The New Jersey lawmaker released a statement following his conversation.

"I have spoken with Under Secretary Burns and have conveyed to him in very explicit terms the urgency of locating and rescuing New Jerseyans facing perilous conditions in Lebanon. New Jerseyans are at-risk and the Department of State must make immediate provisions to bring them to safety. I find it woefully irresponsible and reprehensible that the Bush administration began mobilizing resources to evacuate our citizens long after other countries. But, there will be a time and place to fully explore why our government was so slow to react to the increasing instability in Lebanon. Now is not the time, however. We must now be about the business of locating and rescuing our citizens from harm's way. I will continue to pressure the Department of State and other government agencies until every single New Jerseyan is safe."

http://menendez.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=258862&&