US caught between aid and politics over Myanmar disaster

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insists aid to cyclone-ravaged Myanmar has nothing to do with politics but critics and some Asian diplomats wonder whether Washington is mixing the two.

The United States has already accorded three million dollars in aid and geared up for massive operations in Myanmar where up to 100,000 people were feared killed by Tropical Cyclone Nargis.

But the country's insular junta has refused to grant access and some critics say a tough US stance at the start might be partly to blame.

The full magnitude of the disaster was not yet known when First Lady Laura Bush held a news conference Monday to denounce Myanmar's military rulers.

Calling them "very inept," she slammed the military junta for failing to respond adequately to the disaster and to issue a timely warning to its citizens as well as for proceeding with a highly criticized constitutional referendum.

"When a country run by a despotic and isolationist regime is laid low by a massive natural disaster, the diplomatic thing to do is to respond with a show of compassion," said Dan Froomkin, the online "White House Watch" columnist for the Washington Post. "Not kick 'em when they're down."

She and President Bush were also criticized for imposing a condition that the junta first allow an American team into Myanmar to assess the scope of the devastation before relief aid could be provided.

"That the International Red Cross, the United Nations, the European Union and a number of highly competent relief agencies were already on the ground doing exactly that did not seem to matter," commented Richard Walden, President of Operation USA, an international relief group.

"Whether it's a hurricane or a cyclone, somehow one Bush or another flies too far above the clouds to feel the pain," he said on Huffingtonpost.com.

Sensing controversy, the Bush administration seems to be backing off but is still insisting that its assessment team be allowed into Myanmar first.

The junta however has not issued visas to the team, currently in Bangkok, worried that any high profile participation could threaten its iron hand rule.

It is "suspicious of the US because of our vitriolic language toward the regime and our call, in effect, for regime change," said David Steinberg, an Asian expert at Washington-based Georgetown University.

The Americans have not been hesitant to use their considerable military and economic resources to help out enemies in times of distress.

When an earthquake flattened the ancient Iranian city of Bam more than four years ago, Washington swiftly provided aid and rescue teams. It also gave immense military support to Indonesia when it was struck by a deadly tsunami in 2004 despite sanctions over human rights issues.

The tone of the initial US response to the Myanmar disaster also surprised some Asian diplomats.

They also saw President Bush's signing Tuesday of legislation awarding a Congressional gold medal to Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi as untimely amid the devastation and suffering.

"He could have done it a bit later, perhaps on May 27," one Southeast Asian diplomat commented.

The date is the 18th anniversary of the 1990 elections won by Suu Kyi's party and also the date when the military is due to renew her house arrest.

"There is no doubt the junta is heartless but this is not the time to politicize the issue," another diplomat from the region said.

But Rice rejected any notion that politics was at play.

"What remains is for the Burmese (Myanmar) government to allow the international community to help its people," she told reporters.

"It should be a simple matter. It's not a matter of politics. It's a matter of a humanitarian crisis," Rice said. "This is the type of crisis that will only get worse."