WHY WE CAN'T SIMPLY THROW AID AT BURMA
Friday May 16,2008
By Frederick Forsyth
LAST WEEK, watching BBC1’s Question Time, I witnessed the plumptious Piers Morgan, jowls a-quiver, shouting: “Get in there.”
He was offering his advice as to how this country should forcibly bring aid to the suffering people of storm-devastated Burma.
In short, he was advising the West to invade the place, as have other commentators. Whether the foul Burmese junta will co-operate in the aiding of its own people or not, even if the cause is humanitarian and good, roaring in without Rangoon’s consent is still invasion. And it probably would not work.
If you want to mount an air bridge, as the West once saved West Berlin in 1948/49, you need three things. You need take-off points that are close to the disaster zone. Neighbouring Bangladesh and Thailand have made plain their airfields are available if, but only if, the Burmese junta grants assent to receive the relief planes. So far it has not.
And you need safe landing grounds. There are no landing grounds in the Irrawaddy Delta, one of the most remote regions in Asia. It is a tangled web of creeks in a sea of mangrove. And you need safe skies. The Burmese tyrants have an air force; not very good but jet fighters will blow a low, slow freighter out of the sky. Penetrating sovereign airspace against national veto is an act of belligerence.................
Complete article here:
http://www.express.co.uk/ourcomments/view/44667
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