YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- The United States government launched its
first airlift of relief supplies to cyclone-ravaged Myanmar, with a
military airplane landing in the south Asian country Monday morning.
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules -- loaded with 28,000 pounds (12,700
kilograms) of supplies, including water, mosquito netting and blankets
-- landed in Myanmar about 2 p.m. (3:30 a.m. ET).
Officials hope the mission will help forge a relation****p that will
allow the United States to send in disaster experts.
"As of right now, visas for them have not been approved," White House
spokesman Gordon Johndroe told re****ters in Crawford, Texas, over the
weekend. "So we'll keep on working on this. We hope this is the
beginning of a long line of assistance from the United States to the
people of Burma."
The United States hopes to send in two more planes on Tuesday.
And four ****ps that are in the region for an annual military exercise
can also be enlisted to help in the relief mission if the Myanmar
government gives the go-ahead.
The Myanmar regime is wary of Western nations, including the United
States -- which does not recognize the military junta.
- - - - -
It was also re****ted that some of the regimes generals
were having their own names stamped on the aid bundles,
creating the appearance that they were supplying the
food and medicines.
I saw an editorial cartoon this weekend trying to compare
"W"s slow response to the New Orleans disaster with the
situation in Burma. NO WAY ! These Burmese 'officials'
are a couple orders of magnitude above and beyond in terms
of pure awfulness.
Now if "W" had blockaded New Orleans, prevented the Red Cross
and Salvation Army from going in - under threat of death -
hadn't supplied even one rescue boat or chopper and had
re-labled donated supplies as "Courtesy of G.W. Bush" ....
then he would have come a LITTLE closer.
There's a big difference between mere incompetence and
bureaucratic catastrophe and outright evilness. The
Burmese 'govt' earns the "outright evilness" award of
the year, hands down. Time to start supplying the
peasants with RPGs ....
Meanwhile ... "W" oughtta add the Burmese "government"
to his "Axis of Evil" list. They've really EARNED it.
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