US increases cyclone aid for Myanmar

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The U.S. Navy has three ships in the Gulf of Thailand that could be dispatched to Myanmar if needed. The USS Essex, an amphibious assault ship, as well as two other vessels in its strike group the USS Juneau and the USS Harper's Ferry are there preparing to participate in an annual exercise with Thailand naval forces.

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said a variety of Navy ships are within reach of Myanmar, including two aircraft carriers the USS Kitty Hawk and the USS Nimitz as well as a command ship, the USS Blue Ridge, with the capability to coordinate the movement and activities of naval vessels.

Morrell said the USS Essex amphibious assault ship has 23 helicopters aboard, including 19 that are capable of lifting cargo from ship to shore. The Essex group also has 1,800 Marines aboard, he said.

First lady Laura Bush on Monday appeared to link the provision of additional aid, beyond the initial infusion of $250,000 from a U.S. Embassy emergency fund, to entry permission for the assessment team.

But White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said additional help was never conditional on the regime allowing the assessment team in. The government's permission would just allow "more aid, more quickly."

Said Perino: "If we can't get in, we're going to have a harder time helping people."

In France, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner also expressed regret over Myanmar's policy on international aid, saying the country insists only on aid that the government would distribute itself and has spurned French as well as U.S. offers of personnel. Kouchner, co-founder of French aid group Doctors Without Borders, said he had applied for a visa to travel to Myanmar to help coordinate, but was highly doubtful it would be granted.

President Bush spoke at a ceremony where he signed legislation awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi.

"This is a fitting tribute to a courageous woman who speaks for freedom for all the people of Burma and who speaks in such a way that she's a powerful voice, in contrast to the junta that currently rules the country," Bush said.

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