Quote:
Originally Posted by eleanoraquitaine
Alright, all you America hating "liberal" "peace lovers" ought to be up in arms because the USA is about to start dropping food, water and other aid to the cyclone victims, without their government's permission. We are actually going to invade their country's airspace to help their people.
Man, America is such an evil country.
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The C-130 will be part of this I have no doubts.
Yes!
U.S. Military Ready to Provide Aid for Stricken Burmese, Official Says
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 7, 2008 – A flotilla of U.S. Navy vessels, rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft, U.S. Air Force planes and thousands of servicemembers are ready to assist Burma’s cyclone-stricken people, if asked, a senior Defense Department official said here today.
“We still are prepared and stand ready to provide assistance if Burma should request it and permit access,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters.
Burma was hit by a powerful cyclone May 1 and 2. Officials estimate that the storm has killed as many as 30,000 Burmese, with hundreds of thousands likely injured and homeless. But efforts to persuade Burma’s military council, or junta, to allow humanitarian aid to flow into the country have been fruitless thus far, according to news reports.
The Pentagon has identified a number of resources that could be tapped to assist the Burmese, including aircraft carriers and other U.S. Navy vessels that are posted in and around the region, Whitman said. U.S. Air Force cargo aircraft that can fly in food and clean water also are available, he said.
Burma is an eastern-Asian nation on the Bay of Bengal that’s sandwiched among neighbors India, China and Thailand. Burma is slightly smaller than Texas, but it has nearly double the population, with nearly 58 million Burmese, compared to about 23 million “Lone Star State” residents, according to U.S. State Department and U.S. Census Bureau statistics.
The U.S. Navy has three ships in the Gulf of Thailand, including the USS Essex, which boasts 23 helicopters, 1,800 Marines and five amphibious landing craft, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters yesterday. The USS Juneau and the USS Harper’s Ferry also are in the region, Morrell noted.
The Pentagon also has some U.S. Air Force C-130 cargo aircraft in the region that could be employed in any humanitarian mission for Burma, Whitman told Pentagon reporters today.