Thousands of foreigners continue to evacuate Lebanon. The United States is being widely criticized for being too slow to help Americans leave. A report on the American Prospect website indicates that the Bush administration might have purposely delayed evacuating Americans for diplomatic reasons. The report claims that the State Department has been reluctant to create an impression that the Israeli assault on Lebanon is as bad as it is or that civilian U.S. citizens are being threatened by Israel. Earlier today U.S. Marines landed in Lebanon for the first time in 22 years to help in the evacuation. On Wednesday, U.S. Brigadier General Carl Jensen discussed the evacuation plans.

• Brig. Gen. Carl Jensen: “There is still much to do but, as far as I’m concerned, this operation cannot move fast enough. I’ve been asked before 'how fast should this be going?' or 'is it going fast enough?' and the real answer is it can never go fast enough until the job is absolutely complete.”