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 The Pentagon Early Bird May 10, 2008 Use of these news items does not reflect official endorsement. Reproduction for private use or gain is subject to original copyright restrictions. Item numbers indicate order of appearance only. This is the single print version. Use the PRINT command in your browser to print the entire Early Bird as one document. (NOTE: This single file format is a long document and can use 50 or more pages of paper.) Please scroll down to read the Headlines; then to read Entire headline Article, further scroll down. UrL's will not link out in the format recieved.IRAQ
San Diego Union-Tribune May 10, 2008 Mine-Resistant Vehicles To Get Sides Fortified By Lolita C. Baldor and Chelsea Carter, Associated Press WASHINGTON The U.S. military is reinforcing the sides of its top-line mine-resistant vehicles to shore up what could be weak points as troops see a spike in armor-piercing roadside bombings across Iraq, officials say. The surge in attacks is putting the mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles, or MRAPs, to the test, and they are largely passing. Statistics show that while bombings involving the deadly penetrating explosives have jumped by about 40 percent in the past three months, deaths in such bombings have dropped by as much as 17 percent. Officials attribute much of the decline in deaths to the increased use of MRAPs. Eight service members have died in incidents that involved the new bomb-resistant vehicles, and several of those deaths occurred in rollovers rather than from explosives penetrating the armor. In what may be the only instance in which explosives penetrated the MRAP, two soldiers were killed last week when the MRAP they were riding in was hit by what appeared to be one of the highly lethal explosively formed penetrators, called EFPs. Army spokesman Paul Boyce said commanders are increasing safety training to help troops better learn how to handle the heavy, ungainly vehicles. Ÿe're emphasizing the limitations of the vehicle's handling and the importance of understanding the lessons learned after some close calls, said Boyce, adding that the training also focuses on how to get out in an emergency. At Camp Arifjahn in Kuwait, the military is reinforcing some MRAPs with additional side armor. It shipped as many as 20 of the newly upgraded vehicles to the battlefront in April. An additional 30 are to go into Iraq beginning this month. Navy Lt. Cmdr. James Hadley, who is overseeing the upgrades in Kuwait, said not every MRAP is getting the additional armor, which increases the vehicle's weight by as much as 5,000 pounds. The extra protection, he said, is being added to vehicles destined for hot battleground areas. Roadside bombs have long been a primary killer of troops in Iraq, and in May 2007 Defense Secretary Robert Gates declared that the speedy purchase of MRAPs was the Pentagon's top acquisition priority. The vehicles have a V-shaped hull and sit about 36 inches off the ground, so when a bomb explodes the blast is directed out and away from the troops riding inside. Congress has provided more than $22 billion for at least 15,000 of the vehicles the Defense Department plans to acquire, mostly for the Army. The Marine Corps, citing reduced violence in Iraq and the awkward size of the vehicles, has already announced it wants only 2,300 1,400 fewer than initially planned. The vehicles cost between $500,000 and $1 million each, depending on their size and how they are equipped. Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Speakes said Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, told him that using the MRAPs has saved the lives of about 40 of his soldiers. Lynch's troops control a large region south of Baghdad. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080510599571.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2436053_AEf PjkQAAF6LSCYYMAbVBX3hSgk&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080510aaindex_concat.html&cred=5OAH5P1xDUk1M61R CVN0od3O5cRkJm.ihpQr_VC3EQgM91acJ2vlqPufPx3OytkH#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Wall Street Journal May 10, 2008 Pg. 6 U.S. Says It Doesn't Have Qaeda Figure By Associated Press The U.S. military on Friday denied that the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, had been captured, saying a man with a similar name had been arrested in the northern city of Mosul. "Neither coalition forces nor Iraqi security forces detained or killed Abu Ayyub al-Masri. This guy had a similar name," said Maj. Peggy Kageleiry, a U.S. military spokeswoman in northern Iraq. Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said the confusion arose because the commander of Iraqi forces in the Mosul region was convinced that he had arrested al-Masri -- also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir. There have been false alarms in the past about al-Masri. At least twice -- in 2006 and May 2007 -- reports circulated that he was dead. "Iraqi officials are dealing with a developing chain of command that often leaps to conclusions and reports success before it occurs, often under pressure from the media," said Anthony Cordesman, a security analyst for the Center for Strategic and International Studies. On Friday evening, Iraqi officials imposed an indefinite vehicle ban in the northern province of Nineveh, which includes Mosul. Brig. Gen. Khalid Abdul-Sattar, the provincial security spokesman, said the ban was prompted by intelligence that Sunni insurgents might carry out car bombings. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080510599621.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2436053_AEf PjkQAAF6LSCYYMAbVBX3hSgk&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080510aaindex_concat.html&cred=5OAH5P1xDUk1M61R CVN0od3O5cRkJm.ihpQr_VC3EQgM91acJ2vlqPufPx3OytkH#T OP">RETURN TO TOP New York Times May 10, 2008 Pg. 8 Troops Kill 25 Militants In Iraqi Slum, U.S. Says BAGHDAD (Reuters) American forces have killed 25 militants in the past two days in Sadr City, the Baghdad district that is a stronghold of the anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr, the United States military said Friday. The gunmen were killed in several clashes on Thursday and Friday, the military said in a series of statements. According to the statements, airstrikes and tanks were used to attack militiamen trying to launch rockets from the slum or shoot at American troops on patrol. At hospitals in Sadr City, officials said they had received four bodies and treated 51 wounded by Friday morning, but provided no further casualty figures after that. Among the wounded were children, the officials said. In one operation, Special Forces troops killed 11 special groups fighters a term the military uses for Shiite groups it says receive weapons and training from Iran after they attacked a joint American and Iraqi military patrol. Fighting has raged in Baghdad since Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki ordered a crackdown on Shiite militias in late March. Several hundred people have been killed, and the conflict shows no sign of easing. Aid workers have warned of a looming humanitarian crisis in Sadr City, home to some two million people. Mr. Maliki, a Shiite, has said the crackdownÃÔ goal is to disarm militias, but Mr. SadrÃÔ followers see the operation as an attempt by the government to sideline his mass movement before local elections in October. Mr. Sadr, who has a strong following among dispossessed Shiites in Baghdad and elsewhere, threatened last month to scrap a truce he had imposed on his Mahdi Army militia in August. A few weeks later he urged his men to observe it, leaving many confused about his true intentions. On Friday, Shiite militants, taking advantage of a sandstorm that concealed them from aircraft, fired more rockets at the fortified Green Zone. But the rockets fell short, including one that damaged the British Broadcasting Corporation bureau, according to The Associated Press. At least seven other rocket explosions were heard. But the American authorities did not confirm any strikes inside the Green Zone. One of the American objectives in Sadr City is to push militants deeper into the district and put their rockets and mortars out of range of the Green Zone. But that effort has increased the odds of shells falling short, and into civilian areas. The A.P. also reported that the American military had denied that the leader of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, had been captured, saying that a man with a similar name had been arrested in the northern city of Mosul. Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia is a homegrown Sunni insurgent group that American intelligence says is led by foreigners. ůeither coalition forces nor Iraqi security forces detained or killed Abu Ayyub al-Masri. This guy had a similar name, Maj. Peggy Kageleiry, a military spokeswoman, told The A.P. An Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman, Muhammad al-Askari, said the confusion arose because the commander of Iraqi forces in the Mosul region was convinced he had arrested Mr. Masri. There have been false accounts about Mr. Masri before. At least twice, in 2006 and May 2007, reports circulated that he was dead. Ūraqi officials are dealing with a developing chain of command that often leaps to conclusions and reports success before it occurs, often under pressure from the media, Anthony H. Cordesman, a security analyst for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told The A.P. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080510599658.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2436053_AEf PjkQAAF6LSCYYMAbVBX3hSgk&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080510aaindex_concat.html&cred=5OAH5P1xDUk1M61R CVN0od3O5cRkJm.ihpQr_VC3EQgM91acJ2vlqPufPx3OytkH#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Philadelphia Inquirer May 10, 2008 Cleric's Militia Agrees To Let Iraqi Troops Into Sadr City By Leila Fadel, McClatchy Newspapers BAGHDAD - Followers of rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr agreed late yesterday to allow Iraqi security forces to enter all of Baghdad's Sadr City and to arrest anyone found with heavy weapons in a surprising capitulation that seemed likely to be hailed as a major victory for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. In return, Sadr's Mahdi Army supporters won the Iraqi government's agreement not to arrest Mahdi Army members without warrants, unless they were in possession of "medium and heavy weaponry." The agreement would end six weeks of fighting in the vast Shiite Muslim area that is home to more than two million residents and would mark the first time that the area would be under government control since Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003. Yesterday, 15 people were killed and 112 injured in fighting, officials at the neighborhood's two hospitals said. It also would be a startling turnaround in fortunes for Maliki, who had been widely criticized for picking a fight with Sadr's forces, first in the southern port city of Basra and then in Sadr City. Members of Maliki's Dawa Party and the powerful Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq met with Sadr officials Thursday and yesterday to come up with an agreement to end the weeks of fighting, which has hindered the flow of food and water into Sadr City. The pact was then sent to Sadr and Maliki for final approval, said Baha al-Araji, a Sadrist legislator. Hundreds of people have been killed and hundreds more wounded in the fighting, which has included frequent U.S. air strikes. At least 8,500 people have been driven from their homes, and thousands of others have been forced to stay inside, too frightened to flee. A government supporter said the Sadrists were brought to the table by the anger of Sadr City residents. On Thursday, the Iraqi military ordered Sadr City residents to evacuate in apparent preparation for a major offensive push. "It is not the government who pressured the Sadrists into entering this agreement," said Ali al-Adeeb, a leading member of the Dawa Party. "It is the pressure from the people inside Sadr City and from their own people that will make them act more responsibly." Like many things in Iraq, the precise effect of the agreement won't be known immediately. Sadr officials long have said that their militia has no heavy weaponry, and Sadr has condemned those with such munitions. Sadr supporter Araji, however, said the agreement specifically barred U.S. forces from entering Sadr City. "The Iraqi forces, not the American forces, can come into Sadr City and search for weapons," Araji said. "We don't have big weapons, and we want this to stop." The Mahdi Army, and the Sadr movement in general, has been losing support in the last two months in the face of a government offensive intended to force the militia from its controlling positions in Basra and Sadr City. In Basra, a city known for culture and music, Shiite extremists had taken control in late 2005 and began shutting down music stores and forcing women to cover themselves. But after initially resisting Maliki's offensive, the Sadrists ceded their areas, and the change in atmosphere has been palpable. An annual poetry festival, al-Mirbed, resumed for the first time in three years, with male and female folk dancers performing in public and poets spouting their verses. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080510599607.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2436053_AEf PjkQAAF6LSCYYMAbVBX3hSgk&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080510aaindex_concat.html&cred=5OAH5P1xDUk1M61R CVN0od3O5cRkJm.ihpQr_VC3EQgM91acJ2vlqPufPx3OytkH#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Washington Times May 10, 2008 Pg. 5 Rockets Launched At Green Zone BAGHDAD (AP) Shi'ite militants launched rockets toward the fortified Green Zone yesterday, taking advantage of a sandstorm that gave cover from attacks by U.S. aircraft. Some rockets fell short, including one that damaged the British Broadcasting Corp. bureau. At least seven other rocket explosions were heard, but U.S. authorities did not confirm any strikes inside the Green Zone, which includes the U.S. Embassy and much of the Iraqi government. The U.S. military, meanwhile, said Iraqi authorities mistakenly announced Thursday that the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, had been captured in the northern city of Mosul. U.S. officials said a man who was arrested had a name similar to al-Masri's. There have been false alarms in the past about al-Masri. At least twice in 2006 and last May reports circulated that he was dead. Responding to the latest report, Maj. Peggy Kageleiry, a U.S. military spokeswoman in northern Iraq, said: "Neither coalition forces nor Iraqi security forces detained or killed Abu Ayyub al-Masri. This guy had a similar name." The rocket salvos from Sadr City have come in response to a U.S.-led push into Sadr City, the Baghdad stronghold of the powerful Mahdi Army led by anti-American Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. One of the American objectives is to push militants deeper into the district and put their rockets and mortars out of range for the Green Zone. But that also has increased the chances of the shells falling short into civilian areas. One rocket hit the roof of the BBC bureau, leaving a 3-by-5 foot hole. U.S. authorities plan to complete a barrier up to 12 feet tall in parts of Sadr City. It seeks to cut off militia movement and enable the military to exert more control over the most restive section of the district a vast slum of about 2.5 million people. The street battles in Sadr City began in late March after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite, launched a crackdown against the Shi'ite armed groups in the southern city of Basra. He has vowed to disarm the Mahdi Army and other groups that operate outside government control. Aid groups say at least 6,000 people have fled their homes in Sadr City to escape the fighting and seek help as food and medical supplies dwindle. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080510599589.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2436053_AEf PjkQAAF6LSCYYMAbVBX3hSgk&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080510aaindex_concat.html&cred=5OAH5P1xDUk1M61R CVN0od3O5cRkJm.ihpQr_VC3EQgM91acJ2vlqPufPx3OytkH#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Washington Post May 10, 2008 Pg. 7 Frustration And Deceit On U.S.-Iraqi Patrol In Mosul By Ernesto Londono, Washington Post Foreign Service MOSUL, Iraq -- An hour before sunrise, under a star-studded sky, 1st Lt. Michael Baxter's soldiers packed their gear into Bradley Fighting Vehicles, heading out to patrol neighborhoods where fighting insurgents often seems like warring with shadows. Soldiers took long drags on cigarettes before strapping 40 pounds of armor and gear onto their backs, saying little save for quick back-and-forth on radios. They crammed into the cabins of the tracked, armored vehicles that rattle like flimsy wooden roller-coaster cars and tuned out the sights and sounds of the city. Mosul, a city in northern Iraq that straddles the Tigris River, has long been a stronghold of Sunni insurgents. When U.S. and Iraqi security forces aggressively fought Sunni extremists in Baghdad and other provinces, insurgents flocked to Mosul in recent months. The patrols took place on the eve of an offensive against the insurgents that Iraqi officials had vowed to undertake here. The offensive has been dubbed Lion's Roar, and it may cast a spotlight on the readiness and competence of the Iraqi military and police in northern Iraq. "This is their operation," said Maj. Amanda Emmens-Rossi, a U.S. military spokeswoman in Mosul. "It was conceived and led by the Iraqi military." U.S. military officials say an offensive here is unlikely to unfold like the 2004 battle of Fallujah, in which U.S. troops fought entrenched insurgent cells with considerable success. And the battle in Mosul is considerably different from recent fights in Baghdad and Basra. "This is not a Fallujah," said Lt. Col. Christopher Johnson, commander of the 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, which is deployed in eastern Mosul. Gathering intelligence on insurgent networks has been daunting, and insurgents have seldom fought security forces face to face. "They pick the time and place." 'Why Are You Guys All Lying?' The rear door of the Bradley popped open vertically, making a loud thump as it hit the pavement. Baxter's men moved stealthily and quickly, accustomed to dodging sniper fire from rooftops. They patrolled without Iraqi soldiers on a recent morning because the Iraqis had not arrived in time. Their first stop was a house where U.S. soldiers last month had detained men they suspected of having links to insurgents. No one was home. Scattered furniture, bagged blankets and a handful of children's shoes suggested the residents had left in a hurry. His men moved to an adjacent house, where residents seemed startled as the soldiers burst in, moving quickly from room to room. The residents gathered downstairs. Baxter, 28, asked them when their neighbors had left. "Three days ago," one of the men volunteered. A woman wearing a blue dress and a white head scarf leaned against a door frame and eyed the soldiers icily as the men of the house sat on the floor. Baxter wanted to know what language the neighbors spoke. Someone replied Turkish, but then denied having interacted with the group. "Have you seen any terrorists?" he asked. No, one of the men assured him. They told the lieutenant that they had lived in the neighborhood for 30 years. "Thirty years, and you've never seen any insurgents?" Baxter asked, looking at his interpreter. "Tell him I've been here for five months, and I've seen a lot of terrorists. Why are you guys all lying?" What about the roadside bombs? Baxter asked. They are placed at night, one man said. Softening his tone, Baxter said U.S. soldiers are working with Iraqi army and police officials in Mosul to restore security. That prompted a complaint: One resident told Baxter that Iraqi soldiers recently confiscated his AK-47 assault rifle, which Iraqis are allowed to keep at home. "They put the AK to my head and threatened to shoot," the man said. 'Hit-and-Run Tactics' Back at the small combat outpost, Baxter tore into a packaged military meal and sat at a picnic table surrounded by blast walls. The outpost is frequently attacked, but the last couple of weeks had been unusually quiet. The first round landed at 11:30 a.m. as Baxter was finishing his meal. Mortars. Again. Soldiers reacted quickly. They roused comrades napping in tents and huddled in small cement bunkers. Five rounds hit in quick succession. None hit the green tents where the soldiers live or the open area where they work out and eat. No one was hurt. Inside a small trailer in the back of the outpost, Capt. David Sandoval, the company commander, was working the phones and monitoring video streams from security cameras and unmanned aerial vehicles. He was trying to figure out where the mortars were fired from. The next round of explosions rang out. A U.S. military facility was being attacked with rocket-propelled grenades. "These guys will throw rounds at you, hit-and-run tactics," Sandoval said. "And then they're gone. It's somewhat frustrating." Sweet Tea and IEDs Soon, Baxter's men headed out for their second patrol. This time, they canvassed a neighborhood near the outpost. A small group of Iraqi soldiers came along. Residents were polite but circumspect. A man invited Baxter in. The lieutenant told the man he wanted to find out who placed a bomb that exploded at a nearby school. Two schools in Mosul had been bombed recently. U.S. military officials discovered the schools were targeted because insurgents wrongly believed that soldiers intended to turn them into combat outposts. "The terrorists don't care if the IEDs hurt children," Baxter said, referring to improvised explosive devices. "The IEDs don't hurt us. We have armor and tanks. They can't hurt us in our vehicles. They only hurt the children." Baxter asked him whether he ever saw men with masks and guns roaming the streets. No, no, the man assured him. Baxter turned to the man's young son. "Have you seen men wearing masks?" Baxter asked the boy. "Carrying weapons?" The boy looked Baxter in the eye and nodded. The man excused himself and went to make sweet tea for the soldiers. Other soldiers in Baxter's platoon had been visiting other houses in the neighborhood with Iraqi troops, who moved at a sluggish pace. When U.S. soldiers screened houses for threats, Iraqi army soldiers stood in the way rather than help them make sure the house was safe. After leaving a house, U.S. soldier drenched in sweat blared out, "What's the penalty for punching an IA officer?" 'Like Pulling Teeth' U.S. military officials in Mosul say the Iraqi army and police have made steady progress in recent months: Iraqi soldiers now operate out of small outposts around the city and have begun conducting their own patrols. Certain police units have brought in good leads to the Americans. But the reputation of both forces is checkered in Mosul. Residents of the predominantly Sunni city see the army, which in northern Iraq is made up predominantly of Kurds, as an extension of the pesh merga, the Kurdish regional government militia. And they've grown wary of the heavy-handed tactics of the police. "To get the IA and the IP to go out and do something with us is like pulling teeth," said Staff Sgt. Perry G. Maynor, 24, referring to the Iraqi army and police. As Baxter headed back to the outpost after finishing the afternoon patrol, he got word that a neighbor had reported that a mortar dud landed in his back yard. The soldiers headed toward the house. U.S. soldiers dismounted from their Bradleys. Iraqi soldiers stayed in their trucks. Baxter waved them over. "Hey, are you guys going to come out and play?" he asked. The Iraqi soldiers stepped out. The soldiers found the dud. U.S. soldiers said they should call an explosive ordnance team, which is what they normally do in such situations, because duds are prone to explode. Without fanfare, an Iraqi soldier reached down and grabbed the munition by a fin. Stunned, the Americans ran for cover as the soldier walked back to his truck smiling, the dud dangling from his hand. Back at the outpost, Baxter rounded up his men for a quick debriefing. Anything to report? he asked. "The IA suck," a soldier said. Another chimed in, "And all the people we talked to today are liars." http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080510599585.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2436053_AEf PjkQAAF6LSCYYMAbVBX3hSgk&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080510aaindex_concat.html&cred=5OAH5P1xDUk1M61R CVN0od3O5cRkJm.ihpQr_VC3EQgM91acJ2vlqPufPx3OytkH#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Washington Post May 10, 2008 Pg. 1 Some War Dead Were Cremated At Facility Handling Pets By Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post Staff Writer The U.S. military has, since 2001, cremated some of the remains of American service members killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere at a Delaware facility that also cremates pets, a practice that ended yesterday when the Pentagon banned the arrangement. The facility, located in an industrial park near Dover Air Force Base, has cremated about 200 service members, manager David A. Bose estimated last night. It uses separate crematories a few feet apart to cremate humans and animals, he added, insisting that there had "not been any people gone through the pet crematory." Pentagon officials said they do not think that human remains and animal remains were ever commingled at the facility. "We have absolutely no evidence whatsoever at this point that any human remains were at all ever mistreated," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said at a news conference hastily convened last night. Regardless, the Pentagon will no longer permit crematories not located with funeral homes to handle the remains of U.S. troops, defense officials said. Officials said they do not know the number of service members cremated at the Kent County facility, which is identified on a billboard as Friends Forever Pet Cremation Service. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates found "the site and signage insensitive and entirely inappropriate for the dignified treatment of our fallen," Morrell said. "The families of the fallen have the secretary's deepest apology," he said. "The secretary believes that it is inappropriate, even if though permissible under the rules and regulations, to cremate our fallen, our heroes, in a facility that also cremates pets," he added. The revelation came to light when an Army officer who works at the Pentagon traveled to Delaware on Thursday to attend the cremation of a military comrade. Offended to discover that the facility was labeled as a pet crematory, the officer sent an e-mail late Thursday night to superiors at the Pentagon that included a photograph of the signage. It soon rocketed to the attention of Gates, who directed David S.C. Chu, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, to conduct "a comprehensive review of existing DOD policies and practices governing the cremation and handling of remains of U.S. service members," Morrell said. Bose said the Army officer "got in a huff because he saw the sign and went back and really stirred up the pot." The officer attended the cremation because no relatives of the deceased soldier were present, Bose said, adding that the officer left without speaking to him or asking any questions. Bose said that Capitol Crematory and Friends Forever Pet Cremation Service owns one pet crematory that is square and too small for most humans, who are cremated in two larger, rectangular crematories in the same room. The Air Force has no crematory facility at Dover Air Force Base, where the Dover port mortuary handles the remains of all U.S. service members who die overseas. As a result, in 2001 Air Force officials contracted with two local funeral homes to perform cremations, including with Torbert Funeral Chapels and Crematories, which oversees the facility managed by Bose, and another crematory that is located with a funeral home. Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz, director of the Air Force Staff, said he does not know whether any military officer had ever inspected the contracted crematories. "That is something which we need to take a look at," he said. Typically, Bose said, service members would drop off remains at his crematory after he signed the paperwork for them, and would return the next day to sign for and pick up the cremains. That would be contrary to the normal procedure described by Klotz, in which the military provides an escort for all service members killed overseas during transport to the United States, and again after "medical processing" at the Dover mortuary as the deceased returns home for interment. Klotz said the Air Force is looking into whether it has "complete presence throughout this entire process," adding: "Presence is very important." Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne directed yesterday that the service "cease using the off-site crematory, use only crematory facilities that are co-located with licensed funeral homes, and have a military presence during the off-base process at the funeral home facilities," Morrell said. Military officials said they are concerned that the new requirements, such as that the crematory be located with a funeral home, could slow the cremation process. "Dover is a relatively small city . . . so there is a limitation in terms of the number of facilities that could do that," he said. "That is something we will work very, very quickly," said Klotz, who added that he will meet with Dover officials today. Even the suggestion of impropriety with cremations touched a raw nerve among officers at the Pentagon, where military culture instills that showing respect for the fallen is an extremely important and solemn duty. Funerary rituals such as removing flags from military caskets and presenting them to the deceased's family are carried out meticulously, while other demonstrations of respect include personally delivering news of the loss of a loved one to the next of kin. The officer who went to Delaware did so "to be a physical presence, to be a part of that bond that is so unique to this warrior ethos in our profession," Lt. Gen. David H. Huntoon Jr., director of the Army Staff, said at the news conference. Instead, he said, the officer found conditions that he considered "insensitive." http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080510599693.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2436053_AEf PjkQAAF6LSCYYMAbVBX3hSgk&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080510aaindex_concat.html&cred=5OAH5P1xDUk1M61R CVN0od3O5cRkJm.ihpQr_VC3EQgM91acJ2vlqPufPx3OytkH#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Los Angeles Times May 10, 2008 Complaint Spurs Military To Change Cremation Policy The Pentagon responds after learning that a crematorium handling the remains of humans -- including fallen soldiers -- also handles pets. By Julian E. Barnes, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer WASHINGTON The Pentagon abruptly ordered changes Friday in the way it handles service members' remains after learning that one business used by the Air Force performs both human and animal cremations. The Delaware facility maintains separate incinerators in different buildings for human remains and animal remains, said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary. But the crematorium, in an industrial park, had one sign, which advertised pet cremation services. Told of the situation, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates asked for immediate changes, ordered a broad review and issued an apology to military families, Morrell said. "Secretary Gates believes the site and signage are insensitive and entirely inappropriate to the dignified treatment of our fallen," Morrell said. "We just think our heroes deserve to be treated better than that." The issue was brought to Gates' attention after an officer who attended the cremation Friday morning of a friend killed in combat lodged a complaint. "This appeared to this soldier that our fallen heroes were taken to a pet crematory," Morrell said, adding that there was no evidence that any human remains were mistreated. But the complaint, sent by e-mail and accompanied by a photograph of the business, shot up the chain of command in the Pentagon. The officer was concerned about "the way the facility looked -- he felt it was insensitive," said Lt. Gen. David Huntoon, the Army staff director. "His larger message is that we care in this profession about our fallen comrades." The bodies of service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Depending on family preferences, the military transports caskets bearing the remains to hometown funeral homes for burial or cremation at government expense. The Air Force also has contracted since 2001 with two crematoriums in Delaware, officials said. One of them, Torbert Funeral Chapel, has its crematorium in the industrial park and handles both human and animal remains. Air Force Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz, the Air Force staff director, said officials did not know how many service members had been cremated at Torbert. Officials from the funeral home did not return a call seeking comment late Friday. Bill Torbert, the company president, told the Associated Press that the sign advertising pet cremation services is displayed only on the building where animal remains are handled. There are no signs on the building where human remains are handled. As part of military practice, all remains of troops being transported must be escorted by a military service member. But military officials said they were not certain Friday whether the remains cremated at the Dover facilities had military escorts. Some funeral homes have crematoriums, whereas others send remains to off-site facilities, military officials said, adding that it is common for crematoriums not located within funeral homes to handle both human and animal remains.It also is common for facilities that handle both human and animal remains to advertise the pet services, but not human services, officials said. Under new rules, cremations for service members will take place only at facilities at funeral homes, and not at facilities that also handle animal remains. "This department will do everything it possibly can to adhere to the principle that the remains of all members of the armed services must be treated with the dignity and respect their sacrifice demands," Morrell said. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080510599651.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2436053_AEf PjkQAAF6LSCYYMAbVBX3hSgk&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080510aaindex_concat.html&cred=5OAH5P1xDUk1M61R CVN0od3O5cRkJm.ihpQr_VC3EQgM91acJ2vlqPufPx3OytkH#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Arizona Republic (Phoenix) May 10, 2008 Military Halts Cremations At Facility That Handles Pets By Nancy A. Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON - The U.S. military will no longer cremate troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan at a Dover, Del., facility that also cremates pets, the Pentagon announced Friday evening at a hastily planned new conference. Geoff Morrell, a Pentagon spokesman, said there was "no evidence whatsoever that any human remains were mistreated" or that any troops were cremated at the facility designated for pets. Instead, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates made the decision Friday after a soldier who works at the Pentagon informed the department that a crematory contracted by the department also incinerated animals. Morrell called the practice "insensitive and entirely inappropriate for the dignified treatment of our fallen." Soldiers killed in action abroad are flown back to Dover Air Force Base. However the base mortuary does not have its own crematorium, so the military contracts with two funeral homes for the cremations. One of the facilities, Torbert Funeral Home, is about 2 miles from the base and operates its crematories out of two buildings, one for humans and the other for pets, said Bill Torbert, the funeral-home owner. Outside the pet crematory is a sign that identifies the building, he said. On Friday, a soldier who works at the Pentagon went to Torbert's to accompany the body of a friend killed in combat. There he saw the sign outside the crematory that said pets were incinerated at the facility, the Pentagon's Morrell said. Upset by what he saw, the soldier informed the department, prompting the secretary to end the practice, Morrell said. But Torbert said it would be impossible for anyone to mistakenly cremate a human in the pet facility because the crematory for animals is too small. "We just hope we served the best we can," Torbert said. "We don't think we did anything in an unethical manner." Still, the Pentagon promised a full investigation. Troops killed in combat are supposed to be escorted from the battlefield to internment. But Torbert said that when a body arrives at his facility, a military official would leave it there alone overnight for the six-hour cremation process and then retrieve the remains the next day. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080510599628.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2436053_AEf PjkQAAF6LSCYYMAbVBX3hSgk&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080510aaindex_concat.html&cred=5OAH5P1xDUk1M61R CVN0od3O5cRkJm.ihpQr_VC3EQgM91acJ2vlqPufPx3OytkH#T OP">RETURN TO TOP New York Times May 10, 2008 Pg. 15 Change Is Sought In Cremation Policy WASHINGTON (AP) The Pentagon is recommending changes in the handling of the remains of military personnel after it was revealed that Delaware crematoriums contracted by the military are used for both humans and animals. A military official said there had been no instances or accusations that human and pet remains were mixed. But officials are recommending that human remains be cremated at a site dedicated entirely to them. The Dover Air Force Base Port Mortuary, where military remains arrive, lacks its own crematorium, so it contracts with two funeral homes. A sign near Torbert Funeral Home in Dover, Del., advertises a pet cremation service. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080510599591.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2436053_AEf PjkQAAF6LSCYYMAbVBX3hSgk&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080510aaindex_concat.html&cred=5OAH5P1xDUk1M61R CVN0od3O5cRkJm.ihpQr_VC3EQgM91acJ2vlqPufPx3OytkH#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Washington Post May 10, 2008 Pg. 9 Army's Chief Liaison To Pakistan Is Pulled From Assignment By Ann Scott Tyson and Julie Tate, Washington Post Staff Writers The Army officer named in March as the military's chief liaison to Pakistan has been pulled from that assignment partly because of controversy in that country over his past command of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a U.S. military official confirmed yesterday. Maj. Gen. Jay W. Hood is in line for "a position of greater responsibility" at the headquarters of U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East and Central Asia, the officials said yesterday, confirming an account that first appeared in yesterday's editions of the New York Times. Hood's initial selection, meant to boost cooperation on counterterrorism issues, drew quick criticism from Pakistani politicians and news organizations. "It is a slap on the face of Pakistan and its 160 million people," Fazlur Rahman, a Pakistani religious party leader, said on a television show in March. Rahman called Hood "a notorious person, who besides insulting and inflicting mental torture on Muslims, six times, confirmedly desecrated . . . the Holy Koran." Last week, the News, a newspaper in Pakistan, called the appointment "unfortunate" and asked, "What is the message coming out of the Pentagon for Pakistanis by this insensitive act?" A U.S. military spokesman said Hood's shift stemmed from unexpected job openings at Central Command in Tampa. "The detailing of military people is a very dynamic situation," said Navy Capt. James Graybeal, a Central Command spokesman. "There were unforeseen vacancies that developed here at Centcom headquarters of greater responsibility that he is being considered for." Graybeal could not specify those positions. But another military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity, said Pakistani opposition "certainly has to be part of the calculus," adding: "You'd have to be crazy not to read the Pakistan media" and understand the Pakistani sentiment against the appointment. Still, the official emphasized that the Pakistani government did not have a say in the appointment. "This is a U.S. decision," the official said, "so it should not be characterized as 'the Pakistan government vetoed this' -- they don't have that authority." Hood, a field artillery officer and 33-year Army veteran with a master's degree in national security from the Naval War College, until last month commanded First Army Division East at Fort Meade. The controversy around Hood stems from his time as the commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo, under U.S. Southern Command, from March 2004 to March 2006. Hood's tenure involved the inception of the restraint chair for Guantanamo detainees on hunger strikes. Detainees were strapped to chairs and force-fed nutrients through thick nasal tubes. Hood was also the commander when a scandal erupted over mishandling of the Koran in the summer of 2005. After Newsweek reported that a Koran had been flushed down a toilet, at least 16 people were killed in protest riots around the world. Newsweek later retracted the story, but a Pentagon probe examined 13 specific allegations of Koran desecration at the prison dating to early 2002 and found three in which the mishandling was "very likely" deliberate. Two others were "very likely" accidental, and eight were unfounded, Hood said. During Hood's tenure, 167 detainees were transferred out of the facility. In February 2006, the United Nations concluded that the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay violated their rights to physical and mental health and, in some cases, constituted torture. It particularly criticized the force-feeding. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080510599586.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2436053_AEf PjkQAAF6LSCYYMAbVBX3hSgk&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080510aaindex_concat.html&cred=5OAH5P1xDUk1M61R CVN0od3O5cRkJm.ihpQr_VC3EQgM91acJ2vlqPufPx3OytkH#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Washington Post May 10, 2008 Pg. 1 Burma Clears U.S. Aircraft To Deliver Storm Relief By Amy Kazmin and Colum Lynch, Washington Post Foreign Service BANGKOK, May 10 -- Burma's military government said Friday it had cleared a U.S. military relief flight for cyclone victims, declaring itself ready to accept aid from "all quarters." But the junta reaffirmed that it alone will handle distribution, without foreign workers, a restriction that international agencies reject. The mixed message left deep uncertainties in the delivery of vital food and medications a week after Tropical Cyclone Nargis swept through Burma's low-lying Irrawaddy Delta, swamping villages and leaving at least 60,000 Burmese dead or missing. As hundreds of thousands of people stranded by the tidal surge desperately await aid, the Bush administration pressured China and other allies of Burma's military government, hoping they would prevail on it to open its doors to help. "The situation is getting critical and there is only a small window of opportunity if we are to avert the spread of diseases that could multiply the already tragic number of casualties," Noeleen Heyzer, the top U.N. official in Asia, said. Despite the storm's damage, Burma's government went ahead Saturday with voting in many parts of the country on a controversial new national constitution. Its lone concession was a two-week postponement of the vote in Burma's hardest-hit areas: the delta and Rangoon, its largest city. Continuing with the vote was the latest sign that diplomatic overtures were having little influence over the junta, which brutally put down a popular uprising last year. The generals who rule Burma view foreign assistance -- even in the storm's dire aftermath -- as a potential threat to their two-decade hold on power. On Friday, authorities at the Rangoon airport impounded food and equipment delivered by two U.N. planes the previous day. In response, officials from the organization's World Food Program announced a suspension of flights. The Burmese also turned away a search-and-rescue team from the Persian Gulf state of Qatar that arrived without clearance to enter the country. Later Friday, World Food Program headquarters overturned the initial ruling and said that two more aid planes would land in Burma on Saturday but that discussions on who will distribute the supplies would continue. "The U.N. system does not fly in goods, hand them to the government and then fly away," said Richard Horsey of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. "We have certain requirements on accountability. Beneficiaries have to be identified on the basis of need, and delivery has to be monitored." The United Nations has pressed for a week to get about 40 visas for U.N. logistics and disaster relief coordinators and technicians to help scale up a massive operation. But the government of Burma, which the military rulers renamed Myanmar in 1989, showed no sign of buckling on that issue. "Currently Myanmar has prioritised receiving emergency relief provisions and making strenuous effort of delivering it with its own labour to the affected areas," the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper said. "Myanmar is not in a position to receive rescue and information teams from foreign countries at the moment." Despite the uncertainties, the chief U.N. relief official, John Holmes, appealed to member nations at a meeting in New York on Friday to provide more than $187 million to fund U.N. relief operations likely to last many months. At that meeting, Burma's U.N. ambassador voiced some of the most conciliatory remarks heard from the government since the crisis began. "We are most thankful to the international community, our friends near and far, for the solidarity and generosity," Kyaw Tint Swe said, welcoming aid from "all quarters." He also said Burma had agreed to allow a U.S. military C-130 cargo plane to land in the country as soon as Monday. It was unclear whether it would be the first of many. But with the Burmese government prone to reversing itself, officials in Washington had discussed staging an airdrop into the country's flooded coastal regions without government permission but have now rejected that option. France announced it will dispatch toward Burma a warship loaded with 1,500 tons of humanitarian supplies. Burma's prime minister in exile, Sein Win, added his own voice Friday to the call to China to help open up his country. "China has more influence with Burma than India or any other country," he said in Washington. The junta's "decision to refuse the massive amounts of relief aid and expertise that is waiting offshore . . . is a death sentence for many thousands of men, women and children." Sein said opposition figure Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who lives under house arrest in Rangoon, was safe. "The roof of her house may be blown off, and trees in her compound are uprooted, but I believe she is alive." The United Nations estimated that 1.9 million survivors were "severely affected" and that as of Wednesday, about 276,000 of them had received any relief supplies from U.N. agencies or international nongovernmental organizations. International aid workers continued to paint a grim picture of conditions in the Irrawaddy Delta. "It's really horrific," said one Rangoon-based foreign aid worker, whose Burmese staffers have visited the worst-hit areas. "There are villages where everyone survived, but they have been without food and water for a week and are just on a little hill, surrounded by water, waiting for help." Soldiers have begun evacuating victims from the submerged areas, but often just to schools or monasteries to fend for themselves, with little or no food. "The army has been out there giving out food and supplies, but it's very little," another aid worker said. "For every hour that goes by, people are dying." State television in Burma has repeatedly aired images of military men passing out emergency supplies. "This is a regime that is extremely nationalistic -- their whole ideology is about how they are a strong government that is protecting the country and holding the country together," said one Western specialist on Burma's relations with the outside world. "Accepting aid would be an implicit admission that they cannot deal with the problems of the country," he said. "What they are seeing here is a threat to their entire raison d'etre -- their whole house of cards falling down." Critics are also accusing the generals of callousness for proceeding with the referendum. "We are dealing with madness at the very top," said Zarni, a visiting research fellow at Oxford University who uses one name. "It's massive policy failure." Political analysts say that in Burma's deeply hierarchical decision-making structure, the only opinions that really matter are those of Senior Gen. Than Shwe, the reclusive strongman known for uncompromising attitudes toward his opposition and the outside world. Many Burmese believe that nearly every crucial -- and sometimes trivial -- decision in the country is made by Than Shwe, whose most trusted adviser is said to be his astrologer. That can lead to paralysis if the general, who is reported to be seriously ailing, does not make timely decisions. Government officials "may disagree with the top leadership, but at the end of the day everybody rallies and executes the order," Zarni said. "All army officers have witnessed how disloyalty and disobedience and independent thought has been punished, and punished severely." In 1962, Gen. Ne Win expelled foreigners and severed most ties with the outside world in a quixotic quest to build "Burmese socialism." His successors sought to restore those ties but were shunned by the West after thousands of unarmed protesters were slaughtered in a 1988 uprising, and the results of a 1990 election, in which the opposition National League for Democracy won a landslide victory, were refused. After last September's massive anti-government protests, the generals accused the United States of conspiring with Burmese dissidents to overthrow the government. That continuing suspicion appears to be dictating the generals' response to the current crisis. "Most of us look at this massive human tragedy unfolding and think, 'The past is the past, but we have to deal with this,' " the Western academic said. "But the generals have not suspended the past, their prejudices, their hostility and their suspicion." Lynch reported from the United Nations. Correspondent Nora Boustany in Washington contributed to this report. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080510599624.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2436053_AEf PjkQAAF6LSCYYMAbVBX3hSgk&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080510aaindex_concat.html&cred=5OAH5P1xDUk1M61R CVN0od3O5cRkJm.ihpQr_VC3EQgM91acJ2vlqPufPx3OytkH#T OP">RETURN TO TOP New York Times May 10, 2008 Pg. 10 Myanmar Seizes U.N. Food For Cyclone Victims And Blocks Foreign Experts By Seth Mydans BANGKOK The military leaders of Myanmar seized a shipment of United Nations food aid on Friday intended for victims of a devastating cyclone, declaring that they would accept donations of food and medicine but not the foreign aid workers international groups say are in equally short supply there. The ruling junta continued to permit a small number of aid deliveries and promised to allow the first air shipment from the Pentagon on Monday, a significant concession because the United States has been MyanmarÃÔ leading critic, imposing sanctions and lobbying for a United Nations resolution condemning the nationÃÔ generals for human rights violations. But the refusal of the countryÃÔ iron-fisted rulers to allow doctors and disaster relief experts to enter in large numbers contributed to the growing concern that starvation and epidemic diseases could end up killing people on the same scale as the winds, waves and flooding that destroyed villages across a wide swath of coastal Myanmar nearly a week ago. The International Red Cross estimated Friday that the combined efforts of relief agencies and the Myanmar government have distributed aid to only 220,000 of up to 1.9 million people left homeless, injured or subject to disease and hunger after the storm. ŵhere are problems to get the aid inside, and there are problems to get the aid out to the delta area, the Danish Red Cross director, Anders Ladekarl, told Danish broadcaster DR. Ÿe are simply lacking transportation. There are almost no boats and no helicopters. This is really a nightmare to make this operation run.Æû/P>As foreign aid groups scurried to deliver relief, the generals who run Myanmar continued to focus on a separate priority: a constitutional referendum scheduled for Saturday. The juntaÃÔ plan to go ahead with the vote while restricting aid deliveries drew widespread criticism and concern that soldiers who could be rescuing survivors were likely to be sent to polling places instead. Ūt is one of the best examples of the disregard for the people by the military, said Josef Silverstein an expert on Myanmar at Rutgers University. Fourteen years in the making, the Constitution is formulated to keep power in the hands of military officers, even if they change to civilian clothes. It would guarantee the military 25 percent of the seats in Parliament and control of crucial cabinet posts, along with the right to suspend democratic freedoms at any time. But while the state-run newspaper urged people on Friday to approve the Constitution, little help was reaching them. To date, Myanmar has allowed 11 airborne deliveries of aid, which experts say is a fraction of the relief needed if the scale of the disaster is even close to what the Burmese government has claimed. Much of that has come from the United Nations World Food Program, which said Friday that the aid it had delivered and intended to distribute to hard-hit regions along the coast had been seized. Å¢ll the food aid and equipment that we managed to get in has been confiscated, said Paul Risley, a spokesman for the United Nations World Food Program in Bangkok. After initially saying it would halt deliveries, the agency said later Friday that flights would continue Saturday while the issue is worked out. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the Myanmar authorities to let aid into the country ÅØithout hindrance and said the effect of further delay could be ÅÕruly catastrophic.Æû/P>His spokeswoman, Marie Okabe, said Mr. Ban had been trying for two days without success to get in touch by telephone with Than Shwe, the juntaÃÔ senior general. Ÿe have been told that the phone lines are down, she said. MyanmarÃÔ military junta said in a statement on Friday that it was willing to receive disaster relief from the outside world but would distribute supplies itself rather than allowing in relief workers. Aid agencies want to coordinate and control their own aid. Already Myanmar has turned away one fully loaded flight because the supplies were accompanied by disaster experts and press. Å®yanmar is not in a position to receive rescue and information teams from foreign countries at the moment, a Foreign Ministry statement said. Å£ut at present Myanmar is giving priority to receiving relief aid and distributing them to the storm-hit regions with its own resources.Æû/P>Even so, some agencies and nations were delivering supplies successfully. India sent two ships loaded with relief supplies, and the United Nations ChildrenÃÔ Fund said it was not meeting problems with its deliveries of aid. A spokesman for Unicef, Christopher de Bono, said in an e-mail message that millions of water purification tablets had been delivered Thursday, and that although customs clearance could take two days, ÅÂs far as we know there has been no indication of any problems so far.Æû/P>In a telephone call from Myanmar, an official of the International Red Cross, Michael Annear, said delivery work was proceeding normally in cooperation with other agencies and local businesses. Doctors Without Borders, which had been running large H.I.V. and malaria programs in Myanmar, has about 80 staff members in the Delta region and is sending more in, said Frank Smithuis, the groupÃÔ head of mission. He said the group was distributing food and medicine from the stores it already had in place. In the worst-affected areas, he said, 95 percent of the people had lost their homes and everything they owned, and were in desperate need of food, water and shelter. Dr. Smithuis said his group was dispatching teams of six a doctor, a nurse, a medical assistant, two water and sanitation workers and a food distributor who would hire local people to help distribute food. The teams are seeing many people injured by the storm who have infected wounds that need to be drained and treated with antibiotics, he said. Ūt sounds like we have everything under control, and thatÃÔ not true, Mr. Smithuis said. ŵhe area is wide, and thereÃÔ a lot of people. We donÃÕ see other players, we donÃÕ see other help. Most relief workers on the ground are local people and would be less likely to encounter the suspicion with which authorities view foreigners. Save the Children reported that its staff members in the Irrawaddy delta region had come across many rotting bodies where the waters had receded. In the Pyinkaya area southwest of there, they said, people were dying of hunger and thirst. Mr. Risley of the World Food Program said he had never seen delays like those being encountered in Myanmar. In Indonesia after the tsunami in 2004, he said, an air bridge of daily flights was established within 48 hours. ŵhe frustration caused by what appears to be a paperwork delay is unprecedented in modern humanitarian relief efforts, he said. ŪtÃÔ astonishing.Æû/P>He said his agency alone had submitted 10 visa applications for relief workers but that none had been approved before consulates shut down for the weekend. Ÿe strongly urge the government of Myanmar to process these visa applications as quickly as possible, including working over the weekend, he said. John Holmes, the United Nations chief aid coordinator, appealed to countries for $187 million in emergency aid on Friday. But Bettina Luescher, a spokeswoman for the World Food Program, turned aside repeated questions about what had led her agency to make its original decision to suspend relief and then rapidly reverse it. Å¢ll I can say is that at our headquarters in Rome, there were discussions going on and it was decided that we should send in those planes tomorrow, she said. She said that of the 16 visas for entry into Myanmar sought for international staff members, only one had been granted, and it had been requested prior to the storm. The White House welcomed the news on Friday that Myanmar would allow some American aid on Monday. Ÿe hope this is the beginning of major U.S. assistance to the Burmese people, said Gordon D. Johndroe, a White House spokesman. He added, Ÿe are very concerned about the people of Burma, and weÃÓe going to keep on working with the government of Burma to do what we can to help the people there.Æû/P>Among the forces the United States could call on is the Essex Strike Group, which was in the region for Cobra Gold military exercises with Thailand. The group transferred a dozen transport helicopters to Thailand, where they could fly to Myanmar in a matter of hours with relief supplies. The ships are moving toward waters off Myanmar to be available with medical and other relief or reconstruction capabilities on board. Aboard the ships are amphibious landing craft that can move onto battered shorelines and carry personnel and supplies to remote locations, inaccessible by road. Ÿe will come, provide assistance, and then leave just like in Bangladesh, Indonesia, and other places where we have provided assistance, said Maj. Stewart Upton of the Marine Corps, a Pentagon spokesman. Warren Hoge contributed reporting from the United Nations, Thom Shanker from Washington, and Denise Grady from New York. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080510599592.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2436053_AEf PjkQAAF6LSCYYMAbVBX3hSgk&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080510aaindex_concat.html&cred=5OAH5P1xDUk1M61R CVN0od3O5cRkJm.ihpQr_VC3EQgM91acJ2vlqPufPx3OytkH#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Washington Post May 10, 2008 Pg. 10 Bush Plans Call To Chinese Leader Over Burma's Stance On Aid By Glenn Kessler and Dan Eggen, Washington Post Staff Writers President Bush plans to call Chinese President Hu Jintao in coming days to seek his help pressing the Burmese government to accept more disaster assistance, U.S. officials said yesterday, after a lower-level diplomatic push this week yielded Burmese permission for one U.S. relief plane, which is scheduled to land Monday. If the Burmese government does not relent, U.S. officials are discussing other options, including bypassing the government and sending helicopters directly to the affected Irrawaddy Delta, where thousands of bodies have been reported floating in floodwaters and more than 1 million people are estimated to have lost their homes in the aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Nargis. Officials have rejected as ineffective other actions by the military, such as airdrops, and for now they are sticking to diplomacy. Helicopter relief without government permission "is one of many ideas," said Maj. Kerrie Hurd, spokeswoman for the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii. "That is not a plan we are pursuing now." Hurd and other officials said that Burmese permission to allow a single planeload of supplies, while inadequate, will keep the focus on a diplomatic solution for now. "It is a good sign that we don't have to take any other course of action," she said. "One flight is much better than no flights," said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the National Security Council. "And we're going to keep on working to provide as much assistance as possible in the coming days, weeks and months, because they're going to need our help for a long time." Diplomatic pressure has been kept below the presidential level. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke Thursday with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and yesterday with Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, urging both governments to use their influence to persuade the Burmese leadership to open its country to relief specialists. In Thailand, a neighbor with close ties to the Burmese government, the same message has been delivered by U.S. Ambassador Eric John. "The message there from the secretary was to urge all the parties to do what they can to reach out and use whatever leverage they have with that top decision-making layer in the Burmese regime to get them to reverse the course," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. However, the official New China News Agency notably did not mention Burma, also known as Myanmar, in its account of the Rice-Yang conversation, saying the two diplomats "exchanged views" on "issues of common concern." Bush's call to Hu has not been set because Hu has been visiting Japan this past week and Bush's daughter Jenna is getting married at the president's ranch near Crawford, Tex., tomorrow, said one U.S. official speaking on the condition of anonymity. U.S. officials said yesterday that there are no good ways to prompt Burma's military junta to open its borders and allow for a traditional relief effort. One concern holding back efforts by the military to provide aid without the government's permission, several officials said, is the fear that the junta might respond by harming Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest in Rangoon. Her party, the National League for Democracy, won a landslide victory in the country's last election, in 1990, but the military leadership refused |
