Two! Minutes! To Midnight!

Posted on July 24, 2006 by Scott Jennings| 14 Comments

Apparently, the lead singer of Iron Maiden is better at evacuating people from war zones than the US Government. Who knew.

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  • http://www.damnedvulpine.com/ J.

    Well, he was flying Britons out, according to the report, and the U.S. hasn’t done much better than the British have for their own people since, um, WWII.

  • Merkwurdigliebe

    Mmmm…well, unless my reading comprehenshun is severely lacking, he’s picking up the ones who made it to Cyprus and flying them on to the UK. Now if he starts landing his 757 in Beruit, then I’ll be even more impressed.

  • Guildrum

    Quote: Now if he starts landing his 757 in Beruit, then I\’e2\’80\’99ll be even more impressed.

    Last I heard on NPR the Isreaelites bombed all the runways at the airport in Beirut until they resembled little more than swiss cheese. Now, if there’s anyone willing to attempt a landing of a jumbo jet on an airstrip like that, he has steel balls the size of gourds, and that’s a lot bigger and steelier (steelier?) than mine.

  • Lophat

    I wonder if he sang “Aces High” the whole way home?

  • Amaranthar

    I’m sure this was at his own expense. Anyone with the financial clout to do this could, I would think. Well done for him, but it seems kind of hollow to me. The Brits stuck on Cyprus can afford the cost of a flight, it’s just the typical red tape that comes with government bureaucrasy I’m betting.
    Still, a kind jesture and a savings on hotel expences, as well as the comfort of being home. Well done, the world can use more like him.

  • http://ve3d.ign.com/ Apache

    Better than the UK government maybe, considering he airlifted Brits out.

    But very cool link, hehe.

  • Jurrasic

    Lophat, I was thinking the exact same thing.

    “Bandits at 8 O’clock move in behind us
    Ten ME-109′s out of the sun
    Ascending and turning our spitfires to face them
    Heading straight for them I press down my guns.”

    Wonder if he shot down any ME-109s on the way back? :D

  • Djamonja

    Why exactly would you consider the U.S. and Brittish Govt. responses to be so bad? It’s not like they have ships anchored offshore (from Lebanon) incase they need to evacuate their respective citizens. It’s nice that Bruce Dickenson flew to Cyprus (not Lebanon) to pick some of them up, but it’s not evacuating people from a war zone.

  • Orrey

    I love the new assumed “right” everyone over there has now. Maybe it\’e2\’80\’99s a side effect of the Katrina “Daddy Government will save me” syndrome. Since when does everyone have a no questions asked, booked immediately, all expenses paid, “right” to evacuation from a country that they moved to on their own? I mean I can see folks the government sent there like Embassy workers, etc. But the vast majority just moved there.
    Call now! 777′s are standing by – dial 1-800-SAVE-MY- SORRY-ASS!!!

  • http://www.theworldtakes.com damijin

    LETS ALL GET ANGRY AT SCOTT FOR NOT BEING 100% CORRECT IN HIS REFERENCES TO CURRENT (millenia in the making) EVENTS.

  • http://www.eqclerics.org Boanerges

    I have to agree with Orrey. War breaks out in the Middle East literally overnight (instant Middle East war… whoda thunk it?) and suddenly the US is “too slow” in evacuating 25,000+ people from an inherently unstable region? And we pulled our people out FOR FREE which means taxpayers foot the bill for pulling people out of a warzone. If I were them I’d be happy I got out safely without having to cough up for the trip.

  • http://ve3d.ign.com/ Apache

    All things considered, I think the US did a pretty good job evacuating people. Not to sound like a broken record, but it wasn’t exactly the best place for them to be in the first place.

  • CmdrSlack

    Actually, IIRC, we’re making non-government employees reimburse the government for their evacs.

  • http://midnight-guild.org Mist

    That’s fucking metal.