Former U.S. congressman Jason Altmire is one of thousands of American citizens stranded in Dubai as military conflict between the U.S., Israel and Iran escalates.
Altmire is a Kittanning native who served as the Democratic U.S. representative for Pennsylvania’s 4th Congressional District, which included several counties in the region, from 2007-13.
Altmire was a guest on CNN’s “The Lead” earlier this week, and said U.S. citizens have essentially been told to find their own way out of the country.
“My understanding is our name is on a list somewhere at the State Department, which I‘m very grateful for, but getting out on a commercial aircraft does not appear to be something in Dubai that is possible now,” Altmire told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump said joint strikes on Iran by the U.S. and Israel “happened very quickly,” and that there was not an evacuation plan for Americans in the Middle East.
“So this has to be — I know there‘s thousands of Americans that are in the same position right here in Dubai, and the only way this is going to happen is if the government intervenes and evacuates people out of a very, very unsafe zone,” Altmire told CNN.
Altmire said Americans who called a hotline to receive updates on potential evacuation opportunities were advised to use commercial flights or other measures to leave.
“So when that announcement came out today and we called that number and got the voicemail that said what I just said, ‘You‘re on your own, don‘t expect the government to help,’ that‘s when I got involved with calling some former colleagues, calling my own home congressman now, and they were extremely helpful,” Altmire told Tapper.
An attempt to reach Altmire on Wednesday night was unsuccessful.
He is president of Career Education Colleges and Universities in Washington, D.C., which is a national trade association representing private colleges.