US ambassador thanks Malta

United States ambassador Douglas Kmiec has written on behalf of President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to express the "heartfelt gratitude of the United States" for Malta’s substantial humanitarian assistance in the provision of medical care, security, and immigration services for Americans evacuating the present violence in Libya.

"At times like this, it is important that all Maltese and Americans differentiate the people of Libya who are oft described as generous in nature, from a murderous tyrant. A Maltese passenger on our rescue ferry made the point nicely in recounting how some Libyan guards assisted her board our boat. In my daily prayers for the safety of all aboard the ferry, I counted upon that same human decency to transcend momentary ideological madness," Kmiec said.

In a note in Maltese he added his statement, Kmiec - a devout Roman Catholic - said Malta was worthy of its description in the Acts of the Apostles.