Pentagon steps up prep for Myanmar humanitarian mission

By PAULINE JELINEK Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. military stepped up preparations Thursday for a humanitarian mission to Myanmar, readying some ships and Marines now in the region for a multinational exercise.

Though the country's military junta had not accepted the offer of help, the U.S. Air Force also moved more airplanes to a staging area in neighboring Thailand, Air Force spokeswoman Megan Orton said at the Pentagon.

The Navy Thursday was moving Marines and helicopters into Thailand from an aviation combat element of the USS Essex expeditionary strike group. Ships were to move later Thursday, a defense official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.

As the humanitarian disaster in Myanmar unfolded this week, the Navy and Marine Corps happened to have ships and thousands of service members in the Gulf of Thailand for a multinational exercise on humanitarian missions - an exercise that started Thursday.

Because it would take the ships several days to get to the Myanmar area, the Navy was sending some of the group's helicopters and troops ahead over land, the official said.

The group includes the USS Essex, the USS Juneau and the USS Harper's Ferry. The Essex is an amphibious assault ship with 23 helicopters aboard, including 19 capable of lifting cargo from ship to shore, as well as about 1,500 Marines.

The Essex and Juneau were expected to depart the gulf later Thursday when they finished off-loading the helicopters, then steam around the Malay Peninsula through the Strait Malacca and into the Andaman Sea to be in position closer to Myanmar.

The Harper's Ferry and destroyer USS Mustin were expected to start their transit toward Myanmar Friday, the official said.

Three Air Force planes were sent to Thailand and a fourth was on the way, the Air Force's Orton said.

"We are moving forward," she said.

A C-17 transport with water and food landed Thursday. Two C-130 aircraft were already in place and another was en route, she said.

Officials said that although the military junta has not agreed to allow U.S. humanitarian assistance, it did ask for some other U.S. help - satellite pictures of the cyclone-devastated areas.

"They asked our defense attache at the embassy in Rangoon for some imagery and we provided it," said Marine Maj. Stuart Upton, a Pentagon spokesman.