U.S. Ships May Abandon Myanmar Aid Efforts

Still Denied Permission, Navy Vessels Will Likely Give Up Trying To Provide Relief Within Days

(AP)  The United States probably will withdraw a group of naval vessels from waters off the coast of Myanmar within days unless the government allows the ships to offload their relief supplies for cyclone victims, the senior commander of U.S. forces in the region said Wednesday.

Navy Adm. Timothy Keating, chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, said he would discuss the matter this week with Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Singapore, where they will attend an international security conference.

Keating said the group of ships, led by the amphibious assault ship USS Essex, has other scheduled commitments in the area, including a planned port visit to Hong Kong. They were in the Gulf of Thailand participating in a naval exercise when the cyclone struck Myanmar, also known as Burma, on May 2-3.

"Absent a green light from Burmese officials, I don't think she will be there for weeks," Keating told a Pentagon news conference, referring to the Essex. "Days, and then we'll see."

The admiral said the Myanmar junta's refusal to allow the Navy to provide relief is frustrating. He described the sailors and Marines aboard the Essex as "desperate" to provide help.

"If they can't help, they know they have other things that they joined the Navy and the Marine Corps to do, so they want to get on with that sort of thing," Keating said. "It is certainly frustrating to us at Pacific Command. Imagine how much more frustrating it is to the men and women on the ship."

The admiral said it is not too late for the Navy to contribute to the relief effort.

"We believe there's still a mission for us," he said.

The Myanmar government has permitted limited numbers of U.S. Air Force C-130s to bring in water and other relief supplies from a base in Thailand. Keating said 70 such flights have been flown thus far.

Accompanying the Essex in waters off Myanmar are the USS Juneau, the USS Harper's Ferry and the USS Mustin. The Essex has 23 helicopters aboard, including 19 capable of lifting cargo from ship to shore, as well as 1,500 Marines. U.S. officials have proposed using the helicopters to distribute relief aid from the Rangoon airport to outlying areas closer to the cyclone victims.

The U.S. vessels have been off the coast since shortly after the cyclone struck.

The Myanmar government says the cyclone killed 78,000 people and left 56,000 missing. An estimated 2.4 million people were left in desperate need of food, shelter and medical care, according to the United Nations.

Keating said that when he flew to Rangoon with the first C-130 ferrying relief supplies from Thailand on May 11 he met with a high-level delegation of Myanmar civilian and military officials. He said they expressed appreciation for U.S. offers of more aid but said they could not make decisions at that point.

The Myanmar officials then spoke positively about the prospects for recovery from the cyclone, Keating said.

"As to their assessment of the need for those affected by the storm, it was a much more optimistic assessment than our embassy officials and our intelligence led us to understand," he said.

"They said people are returning to their villages, they're planting their summer rotation of crops," and they said the summer monsoons would wash away the salt water left in the soil and ponds by the cyclone. "Their estimate was not nearly as grave as ours," he said.

[al2008-2009]

I*m appalled at the administration*s lack of response to the global warming hurricanes, and cyclones as well. We have no comprehensive strategy in place whatsoever, let alone a detailed plan of action to mitigate the effects of these cyclones, and mother earth continues to suffer while the administration refuses to go forward and do what*s right for mother earth.
.
How long must we sit idly by while our mother continues to suffer from the warming taking place at a feverish pace? How long must our mother suffer before we have proper c02 taxes put into place? How long must the destruction of mother earth take place before we finally put responsible regulations into effect? How long must we wait until we beef up our corn ethanol production? At least Obama wants to cut c02 pollution by 80%; he is definitely our best hope.
.
We the people call upon our leaders to implement a comprehensive antiglobal warming strategy at once and work in coordination with state and federal officials; these cyclones and storms continue to worsen and the quicker we stop the warming the sooner we will see these storms cease. We need action now.

[abigail70]

AL2008, what the hell? The article is about how the administration is TRYING to help another country after a disaster, and being constantly turned away. "Our mother?" Get real. People like you whine when we do help, and whine when we don''t.

[cfin5]

Just leave them be guys. Let the people grow weary of their own rulers. If they fear to prosper in freedom, then they have selected for themselves a tyrant.....It''s sad enough this happened to them without rubbing it in more.

[feelfree4u]

Re: "U.S. Ships May Abandon Myanmar Aid Efforts"

Probably just as well for the people of Burma. We can be certain that the Bush regime would never, ever help anyone, unless they got their customary pound of flesh in return.

On the other hand, why not just give the supplies to Chevron? I''m sure that their buddies in the Myanmar junta would gladly accept them, and Chevron could help to gather, torture, and rape the corpses, then boil them down and use the rendered remnants as fuel for their "Human Energy" campaign.

[questionnews]

Abigail70

Old AL2008 cuts & pastes this same post on every story that CBS put up regardless of the subject. Kinda like an alzheimer''s patient who keeps saying the same thing over & over to the point that people tune him out. Just ignor him, everybody else does.

[questionnews]

FeelFree4U

New name or is this another Singin(g)rick name tweek thing?

Or did CBS drop the hammer on Feelfree?

[feelfree4u]

Questionnews,

New name/hammer drop.

FeelFree1

[au_fait]

Al2008,
Why do you even start in on the GW topic? This article has nothing to do with the issue. By the way, I really have to say it is sad that CBSnews has not mentioned any of the recent articles showing that there has been record ice growth in the poles, the lack of temperatur increase/decrease in deep water recordings or any other data to show that GW maybe a farce. In my opinoin the world is changing as it has since its creation (not a reference to religion). Only a moron would think the world is static and not dynamic. Actually only a moron would think that through our actions we could keep the world static. Things change and that is that!!!! As for beefing up corn ethanol production, to now it has only increased the price of food. Also corn ethanol is not as energy efficient so it is not a solution. it would be better for us to find other means of producing ethanol (sugar, algae, etc...). Or how about using nuclear for our home power and use our coal for liquid to oil programs (not as efficent either though). As for mother earth needing our protection, the world generally balances itself. See our history of climate changes. One last thing, if we cannot predict our weather patterns past a few days, we definately cannot predict climate shifts (way too many variables).

[taylor2124]

We''re beating a dead horse trying to get the Myanmar govt. to act sensibly and treat their own people right. We need to either drop the food in there by force, or come home. Talking to them will get us nowhere.

[hypnotoad72]

If they don''t want us there, why hang around?

And Abigail70, you are so right on that.

[trenticus-2009]

U.S. Ships May Abandon Myanmar Aid Efforts...there''''s no profit in it.

Posted by dragonwagon5

OH S*C*R*E*W YOU! Thats why they are sitting there begging to help. I say go on with life and fulfill your duties to America and not to a regime that cares nothing for the people they govern! No go sit in the corner and think about what you said! I said NOW! Brat!

[trenticus-2009]

Just leave them be guys. Let the people grow weary of their own rulers. If they fear to prosper in freedom, then they have selected for themselves a tyrant.....It''''s sad enough this happened to them without rubbing it in more.

Posted by cfin5

Well Put! I agree With you.

[sistatee-2009]

Send in a couple carriers to replace the aid ships, bomb the snot out of the military junta, and when they scream for aid, extend the middle finger while steaming out of sight.

[emelder]

How about U.S. tornado victims ... or Katrina (we haven''t really done much down there yet).

[minnick8-2009]

I''m really tired of the AL 2008 posting about CO2 taxes. Al2008 should log off and get a life. A C02 tax is not going to stop hurricanes, and tornadoes, and ice storms, and control the weather. China is building new coal power plants daily. Are they going to pay the tax? What about all the cars coming on board with C02 emissions in India and China?

The least you could do, Al2008 is rewrite your blog so that it isn''t the same one over and over and over and over.

[tksk53]

If Myanmar don''t want our aid, then pull our ships out of there and let''s give it to the starving people here
We try to be too nice to everybody and they just **** on us
TKSK53

[beehive21-2009]

Ship it back to USA.for the next, Katrina on the horizon.

[Scooter68]

Interesting that the media is trying to make the case that Americans are worn out from giving for all the disasters around the world. Perhaps the truth is that the public is unwilling to give to those governments whose policies are in large part, responsible for high numbers of dead and suffering after these disasters. Why should we give to a governement that won''t let us in simply to delivery relief supplies. Why should we give to a government that is still oppressing it''s own people and the people of Tibet?

I don''t think that Americans are tired of givin but I do believe that they understand the difference between helping people and helping oppresive governments stay in power. Along with that, given the fear about or economic situation that the media is constantly telling about about, it''s no surprise that people are choosing not to donate to these last two disasters.

[wilmojo1]

I say that you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. If the government of Burma doesn''t want us to aid the people there it''s not our fault that hundreds or thousands more will suffer from their mistakes or their governments mistakes in governing the people and the people that''s trying to help them. The aid is there just waiting for permission to help those that needs the aid that we can give them. The rulers of Burma probably think that we''re stupid enough to kiss their butts and not expect anything in return. The world doesn''t work that way. Besides i didn''t hear of anyone from there trying to help us when the hurricanes tore up several of our states a few years ago.Leave them to their own way of life if they''re happy with it.There''s people here in the u.s.a. that would be glad to get some of that free food and aid that we''re trying to give them.

[nonayabiness]

Good, then. Come home and help our own.

[nonayabiness]

I said long ago, just do it!! Not that I want to risk any American lives, but THIS kind of effort would be much more palatable in the event we lose some troops or a plane or two than what we''ve lost in the illegal, immoral, and unjust war in Iraq. It''s been weeks now, either help these people even if we have to takes risks in doing so or come home and help our own selves. Of course, this is not directed at the pilots, etc. who are following orders, its directed at the upper brass who are responsible for making the decisions. According to the news stories, anyway, we''ve done our part as good, global ambassadors to try and help these people. If the government won''t let us, why are we playing dead?

Just do it, or save the taxpayers monies and come home and help our own!!!! Please!!!!!!!

[ramos937]

OK...The people there desperately need the aid aboard our ships but the junta is deathly afraid we will do to them what we did to Saddam. Just let''s swallow our ego and transfer all of the aid to countries ships that are being allowed in. As far as this matter goes, case solved.

[brianbwb-2009]

The government of Myanmar said they do not want US aid, end of story, why is Bush wasting food and fuel where he is not wanted?

I can definitely understand Myanmar, if they thought the US aid wouldn''t be a Trojan Horse, they would probably have accepted it, but such is the current reputation of Bush that even I don''t trust him to have a strictly humane motive.

[mljohns00]

If the people of Myanmar aren''t happy with their government, they''ll fix it themselves. As would the Iraqis, if we''d left them alone.

The U.S. has tried to "make countries safe for Democracy" for 100 years now, and it has yet to work. We invaded and occupied Cuba and many other countries in the 20th century, with zero long-term effect.

We have our own government which is conducting illegal imprisonment, torture, and civil liberties violations that are more like Stalin''s Russia than what was once the United States. Let''s start with our own "revolution" before forcing Democracy on anybody else.

[renonv5]

Bring it back here, there are many people who go to bed hungry every night. Just think, you could help Americans. What a novel idea!!!

[apndrgn]

The jet stream gets just about anything anywhere. The japanese used it to balloon bombs over the U.S. Todays technology could send balloons with rice over the disaster area and with cameras and controlled release and parachutes, drop food. There is a Biblical precedence, manna.

[petro49l]

Yangon should allow the American Marines to land. Emergency relief supplies are only meant to mitigate deaths. The people of Myanmar deserve an opportunity to live. Yangon should accept the aid as humanitarian and necessary.

[nyeinc]

Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Asia and Pacific Affairs Mr. Eni F. H. Faleomavaega (Democrat, American Samoa) mentioned in a hearing on May 20, 2008 that he hoped to visit Burma in the near future so that he can access the situation on the ground with his own eyes.

A Congressional delegation including at least two of the following members of the Sub-Committee on Asia and Pacific Affairs should be invited to visit Burma, along with its chairman

Donald A. Manzullo, Ranking Member (Republican, Illinois, 16th District)
Diane E. Watson, (Democrat, California, 33rd District)
Gary L. Ackerman (Democrat, New York, 5th District)
Dan Burton (Republican, Indiana, 5th District)

The Congressional Delegation should start the visa process and hopefully the Burmese government would invite them as soon as possible.

[wardoglrs]

They always use food as a weapon. This is the usa way of helping

[keithle1]

Glad I don''t live in Myanmar. Eeeeeeewwwww.