Former U.S. State Department staffer describes process of getting stranded Americans out of Middle East
An estimated one million Americans are in the Middle East.
The White House said they are doing everything they can to evacuate those who want to leave. But as a growing number of us embassies and consulates suspended routine services, some Americans in the region said they have been left with limited options.
As U.S. and Israeli air strikes continue to rain down in Iran, the White House is under an attack of a different kind.
"The U.S. government has been disappointing in this situation," said Trent Burns.
Americans like Burns, who is stranded in Qatar, said the government isn't doing enough to help.
"Not only can I not go home, but safety is nowhere near guaranteed," he said.
In a letter, Gov. JB Pritzker urged the U.S. State Department to do more to get Americans out safely.
The department said a charter flight of American citizens left the Middle East on Wednesday, but did not specify where it took off from. More charters are expected in the coming days, but details have been limited.
This, as several countries, including Spain, have already completed repatriation flights.
"We are proactively identifying as many options as we can, and we are proactively reaching out to Americans with those options," said Tommy Pigott, principal deputy spokesperson for the Department of State.
Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist and a former Trump appointee to the State Department, said safely coordinating flights as rockets fly complicates the repatriation process.
"Much of this depends on the erratic nature of the Iranians' response, which is to not only strike American bases, but again, we're talking about hotels in the area," he said.
Bartlett says returning Americans home must be done with precision, and points to the passenger plane mistakenly shot down by Iran in 2020, hours after the U.S. killed top Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.
"This is where mistakes happen. There's the fog of war, and anything is possible. It's hard to calculate for every circumstance," Bartlett said.
The State Department is urging anyone in the region looking to get out to register with them online and to call the hotline number at +1-202-501-4444.