Exodus from Beirut

Katrina continued: the U.S. government's operations in extracting our citizens from Beirut continue to lag behind those of similarly well-equipped superpowers. Like Norway.

Shayna Silverstein and her friends jumped into expensive taxis and sped from Beirut to Damascus, preferring to dodge bombs and bribe border officials than wait for the United States government to evacuate them. Ann Ainslay Chibbo said she desperately phoned friends back home, urging them to contact the State Department to get her name onto an evacuation list. She said she couldn't get through by phone to the U.S. Embassy in Beirut.

How cute: driving to Damascus through a war zone because you can't reach the embassy. Brownie lives.