Hero's Welcome In Myanmar

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Seattle Times
May 14, 2008 By Associated Press and Washington Post
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, Hampson 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 Burmese who unloaded by hand the 19,900 pounds of emergency supplies on board. "They were really friendly toward us. They were excited to see us."
The government of Myanmar, also known as Burma, on Tuesday raised the number of confirmed deaths from Cyclone Nargis to 34,273, along with 27,838 who are missing. But the death toll estimates of diplomats and aid groups range far higher, to 100,000 or more.
After strong appeals from the U.S., Myanmar allowed the second and third U.S. military flights in on Tuesday, 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 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, Minn., 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."
The airport does not have equipment to lift cargo off big Boeing 747s. It took 200 Burmese volunteers to unload by hand a plane carrying more than 60 tons of relief supplies, including school tents, said Dubai Cares, a United Arab Emirates aid group.
With rain falling on Yangon on Tuesday and downpours predicted later this week, aid officials also said there was not enough warehouse space to protect the supplies beginning to flow in after the regime agreed to accept foreign help.
Relief workers reported some storm survivors were being given spoiled or poor-quality food rather than nutrition-rich biscuits sent by international donors, adding to fears that the ruling military junta in the Southeast Asian country could be misappropriating assistance.
Adm. Timothy Keating, commander of the U.S. Pacific Forces, said the U.S. military could provide 200,000 pounds 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."
Survivors are jamming Buddhist monasteries or camping in the open. Drinking water has been contaminated by fecal matter, and dead bodies and animal carcasses are floating around. Food and medicine are scarce.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U.S. was pressing the junta and its foreign allies to allow in not only food and supplies but disaster-relief experts.
"We are doing everything we can, because this is a humanitarian issue, not a political issue," she said.
"I wish their government would accept our aid more than they have already," said Hampson, of Bedford, Pa. "We'll come in and give them the aid they need to help their people, then we'll leave."
 
Back
Top