&blobkey=id&blobnocache=false&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1199418890714&ssbinary=true May 14, 2008
The first American aid flight into cyclone-ravaged Myanmar carried not only relief supplies, but one of the highest ranking U.S. military leaders in the region who was carrying something every bit as important as the supplies on the plane.
Adm. Timothy J. Keating, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet , carried with him on that May 12 flight a letter from the U.S. government to Myanmar's leaders, assuring them that America was coming to help their country, not invade it.
"He delivered a letter to them from the United States, I believe it was from the State Department, stating that we had no harsh intentions" toward Myanmar, said Capt. Trevor Hall, a pilot with the Yokota, Japan-based 36th Airlift Squadron during a roundtable discussion with bloggers May 14.
"They're very wary of us going into their country, feeling like the last time we went into a country … with a large force like this - at least from their perspective - was Iraq," said Hall, who flew the first flight into Myanmar. "And so they're pretty uncomfortable with [us] having a large military presence there."
He believes the letter stated what U.S. intentions were, "and that we wouldn't be sending in any planes with any kind of weapons or armaments on them; but hopefully just coordinate with them to let them know we just wanted to help."
Myanmar, formerly Burma, is ruled by a military dictatorship that is leery of outside influences. Even with thousands dead and scores of thousands homeless from the May 2 cyclone, the government was slow to respond to offers of assistance from the U.S. and other government.
Myanmar did permit assistance from the Red Cross and Red Crescent, among other agencies.
As far as U.S. assistance, Keating and his written assurances obviously did the trick, since Hall's flight into Rangoon was followed up May 13 by about seven more aid missions. These included two by Marine KC-130s on May 13 and, Hall believes, one Air Force C-130 and four other Marine KC-130 flights on May 14.
In addition to the United States, Greece, Malaysia and India also have begun flying aid into the country, he said.
With Keating and Hall on the first American C-130 into Myanmar were Henrietta Fore, administrator for the Agency for International Development, who met with Myanmar leaders, and Hall's crew: Capt. Greg Judd, navigator; 1st Lt. Buck Kozlowski, co-pilot; Master Sgt. Robert White, engineer; and Senior Airmen Daniel Mortensen and Robert Gore, both loadmasters.
Given what they had heard about the situation in Myanmar, Hall said his crew went in anticipating an unfriendly welcome.
"And when we were received so warmly on the ground it was [with] a great sigh of relief to be honest with you, and everyone we met there was so ecstatic and excited to have us on the ground, even the military people," he said. "It seemed that one in three had a camera and wanted to have their pictures taken with us, or of the plane and us."
Hall said a few of the Burmese military troops at the airport spoke some English, and many of them haltingly said they were grateful for the aid.
"And they all seemed to be saying the same thing: 'Please bring more, please bring more,' " he said.
Re: US To Burma, We'll Help, Not Invade; US Military Flights Begin.
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May 14 2008, 9:44 PM
"To invade someone under the premise of foreign aid during a catastrophic natural disaster, I don't think we would do that."
Although I am against one nation invading another under any pretext, this is a very good one. It is practically a genocide being carried out by the government. An invasion in this case and the the case of Darfur for example wouldn't be a bad thing.
Btw I don't mean the US or anyother country should be doing the invading, it should be a united nations force approved by the united nations.
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Re: US To Burma, We'll Help, Not Invade; US Military Flights Begin.
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May 14 2008, 9:57 PM
@Goozooloo, I really wish international political organizations like the UN were that effective, I really do, but the UN has proven itself to be a bureaucracy choked morass, which severely limits its abilities to perform any operation in a timely manner of sufficient strength.
********************************************* PAX ... AMERICANUS ... INFINITUM
أحلامي هي الكوابيس الخاص بك
US Pilots Get Hero’s Welcome in Myanmar
May 13, 2008
Associated Press
UTAPAO AIR BASE, Thailand - Flying into Yangon, U.S. Marine Cpl. Bryan Hampson looked out the windows of his C-130 cargo plane at an expanse of marshland covered with a thick, brown blanket of water.
As the plane broke through the clouds, the crew member didn't know what to expect. His flight Tuesday was only the second one that Myanmar's ruling military junta - often hostile and suspicious of outside interference - had allowed the U.S. military to fly into the cyclone-devastated country.
What awaited was virtually a hero's welcome.
"They kept telling us thank you and shaking our hands," he said of the 40 Myanmar people who unloaded by hand the 19,900 pounds (9,025 kilograms) of emergency supplies on board. "They were really friendly toward us. They were excited to see us."
After strong appeals from Washington, Myanmar allowed the second and third U.S. military flights in on Tuesday and appeared to be willing to accept more, said Marine Lt. Col. Douglas Powell.
Powell said the first flight Tuesday carried blankets, water and mosquito nets. The second took in a 24,750-pound (11,225-kilogram) load. The two flights come after Myanmar allowed an Air Force C-130 cargo plane into Yangon, its main city, on Monday.
"They were very polite, very professional," Capt. Mark Hamilton, the pilot of Tuesday's first flight, said of the Myanmar officials who met the plane. He said a Myanmar air force officer even came aboard the plane and took snapshots of the cockpit.
"But the military mostly stood off to the side," he said.
Hamilton, of Becker, Minnesota, said the Yangon airport was in good condition, although rain fell as the plane was unloaded.
"They could fit quite a few large planes in there," he said. "The only issue is the offload."
Powell said a Boeing 747 aircraft arrived at Utapao Air Base in Thailand on Monday night to replenish the supplies available to fly in to Myanmar. Though the flights are military, the aid aboard them is being provided by civilian relief authorities.
The U.S. has pushed hard for the ruling military junta in Myanmar to let U.S. troops play a big role in relief operations in the aftermath of the cyclone, which has killed tens of thousands and severely affected an estimated 2 million people.
The U.S. military, which has already brought forces to the region for its annual Cobra Gold exercise, has 11,000 troops, at least four ships and potentially dozens of cargo planes nearby that are ready to start assistance operations.
Adm. Timothy J. Keating, commander of the U.S. Pacific Forces, flew into Myanmar on the initial aid flight Monday to try to persuade the junta to relent.
Keating said the U.S. military could provide 200,000 pounds (90,720 kilograms) of supplies a day, which would be a massive boost to the lagging relief efforts. The military could also ferry aid workers to the hardest-hit regions, which remain hard to reach.
But Myanmar state television said navy commander in chief Rear Adm. Soe Thein told Keating that basic needs of the storm victims are being fulfilled and that "skillful humanitarian workers are not necessary."
The operation, named Joint Task Force Caring Relief, will not go ahead without the approval of Myanmar's military rulers, who have so far refused a broad range of help offers because they fear foreign meddling in their domestic affairs.
That stance - as bodies remain scattered around the countryside and hundreds of thousands of refugees are in need of food and shelter - has generated howls of criticism from around the world.
"I wish their government would accept our aid more than they have already," said Hampson, of Bedford, Pennsylvania. "We'll come in and give them the aid they need to help their people, then we'll leave."
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States 1924-1929
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Re: US To Burma, We'll Help, Not Invade; US Military Flights Begin.
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May 14 2008, 10:48 PM
Red Cross: Up to 128,000 may have died in Myanmar
YANGON, Myanmar - The Red Cross estimated Wednesday that the cyclone death toll in Myanmar could be as high as 128,000 — a much higher figure than the government tally. The U.N. warned a second wave of deaths will follow unless the military regime lets in more aid quickly.
The grim forecast came as heavy rains drenched the devastated Irrawaddy River delta, disrupting aid operations already struggling to reach up to 2.5 million people in urgent need of food, water and shelter.
"Another couple of days exposed to those conditions can only lead to worsening health conditions and compound the stress people are living in," said Shantha Bloemen, a spokeswoman for UNICEF.
A tropical depression in the Bay of Bengal added new worries, but late in the day forecasters said it was weakening and unlikely to grow into a cyclone.
Myanmar's government issued a revised casualty toll Wednesday night, saying 38,491 were known dead and 27,838 were missing.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, however, said its estimate put the number of dead between 68,833 and 127,990. The Geneva-based body said the range came from a compilation based on other estimates from 22 different organizations, including the Myanmar Red Cross Society, and on media reports.
Even though the figures seemed precise, spokesman Matthew Cochrane said they were not based on body counts, but were only rough estimates designed to provide Red Cross donors and partner organizations with an idea of the numbers being discussed within the aid community.
U.N. officials have said there could be more than 100,000 dead.
The Red Cross estimated the number of people needing help after cyclone surged over the low-lying delta on May 3 at between 1.64 million and 2.51 million.
But the junta still refused to accept help from foreign aid experts, who have vast experience in handling humanitarian crises.
It insisted Myanmar can handle the disaster on its own — a stance that appeared to stem not from the isolationist regime's ability but from its deep suspicion of most foreigners, who have frequently criticized its human rights abuses and crackdowns on democracy activists.
"The government has a responsibility to assist their people in the event of a natural disaster," said Amanda Pitt of the U.N. Office for Humanitarian Affairs.
"We are here to do what we can and facilitate their efforts and scale up their response. It is clearly inadequate, and we do not want to see a second wave of deaths as a result of that not being scaled up," she said.
Myanmar's prime minister, Lt. Gen. Thein Sein, told visiting Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on Wednesday that the government was in control of the situation and didn't need foreign experts.
"They have their own team to cope with the situation," Samak said after returning to Bangkok. He said the junta gave him a "guarantee" that there was no starvation or disease outbreaks among survivors.
But critics say the government is woefully lacking in helicopters, trucks and boats as well as planning expertise needed to distribute aid to survivors, who have jammed into monasteries and relief centers or are camping outside.
U.N. agencies and other voluntary groups have been able to reach only 270,000 of the affected people, said Elisabeth Byrs of r the U.N. Office for Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva.
She said the World Food Program would need 55,000 tons of rice to feed 750,000 people for three months, but the agency had been able to ship in only 361 tons so far.
The junta did grant approval Wednesday for a Thai medical team to visit the delta, said Dr. Thawat Sutharacha of Thailand's Public Health Ministry. If the team goes as scheduled Friday, it will be the first foreign aid group to work in the ravaged delta.
Myanmar has limited the few international aid workers in the country to Yangon, the country's biggest city, and used police to keep foreigners from going to the delta.
The government gave a little ground to demands that it let in more experts. It announced it would allow in 160 relief workers from neighboring countries — India, China, Bangladesh and Thailand. It was not clear whether they would be permitted to go to the delta.
In New York, U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes welcomed the junta's move. But he said it was not enough and demanded that Myanmar open its borders to foreign relief specialists and let outsiders work in the Irrawaddy delta.
"The relief getting through under the kind of restrictions we're operating under is by no means adequate to the task, and it's hard to see how just continuing with the status quo can ever be sufficient in the current critical time period that we're working in," Holmes said.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called a meeting of key donors and Myanmar's neighbors to weigh options for speeding aid to cyclone victims.
"Even though the Myanmar government has shown some sense of flexibility, at this time it's far, far too short," he said. "The magnitude of this situation requires much more mobilization of resources and aid workers."
He also expressed frustration that he had not been able to arrange direct talks with the junta's chairman, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, despite repeated phone calls and letters.
While it has kept out all but a few foreign aid workers, the regime has accepted tons of provisions sent by international donors, including the United Nations and the United States.
Five U.S. C-130 military transport planes delivered drinking water, blankets, mosquito nets and plastic sheets Wednesday. Lt. Col. Douglas Powell said 197,080 pounds of provisions had been sent in on eight U.S. flights since Monday.
The State Department renewed an appeal for the junta to allow in outside disaster relief experts and more assistance. "This is not a political issue. This really is simply a humanitarian issue," said deputy spokesman Tom Casey.
The European Union's top aid official, Development Commissioner Louis Michel, said he was not opposed to the idea of parachuting aid into Myanmar, but said he did not think it was workable. Others have suggested unilateral air drops to circumvent the junta's restrictions.
___
Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer and John Heilprin at the United Nations, Matthew Lee in Washington, Frank Jordans in Geneva and Sutin Wannabovorn in Bangkok, Thailand, contributed to this report.
Re: US To Burma, We'll Help, Not Invade; US Military Flights Begin.
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May 15 2008, 4:28 AM
Can you believe this sh!t?
The world should just gang up on these bastards, and hang everyone of them.
This about as sad as it gets.
(RTTNews) - Wednesday, several relief organizations said that International aid coming into Myanmar for the victims of Cyclone Nargis was being stolen, diverted or warehoused by the army.
Local government officials have been accused of selling aid and bribing residents for making profit, according to local sources. Officers of the local township are allegedly refusing families their quota of cooking oil and rice and instead diverting it to the black market.
Re: US To Burma, We'll Help, Not Invade; US Military Flights Begin.
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May 15 2008, 5:04 PM
POLIZEI: you're very naive if you think this is something unique. It happens all the time in Africa for example.
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This isn't Africa, and I am very well aware of what happens in Africa.
Africa is a lost cause.
This is however, Asia, that was hit with a devastating natural disaster, with over 100,000 deaths, with millions exposed to the elements, without food, shelter, medicine.
While the world come with aid, these bastards using the military to take away the items meant for the people.
Africans don't come even close to what Asians are like.
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Re: US To Burma, We'll Help, Not Invade; US Military Flights Begin.
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May 17 2008, 3:53 PM
Lol, for the first time in my life i kinda wish the americans to invade and hang those mianmar dictators by their balls...
Not the first time in my life, but yes, I share the sentiment, although not just the Americans... the international community should step up on this one.
This message has been edited by LoupGaroux on May 17, 2008 3:57 PM
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