Apparently diplomacy works

The Burmese gave the US permission to land more relief flights in Myanmar after a Navy admiral met with the military regime: "Admiral Timothy Keating, chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, talked for two hours with naval officers, said Ky Luu, director of the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance in Washington. Keating arrived on the first U.S. plane to land in the country formerly known as Burma since the cyclone struck May 3, killing as many as 100,000 people. The meeting was the most direct contact since the storm between the secretive, closed country and the U.S., one of its harshest critics. Myanmar's leaders have barred most foreign aid and relief workers and rejected help from U.S. naval ships in the region. "We hope this will be just the beginning of what will be much-needed assistance that we are happy to provide,'' said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. An estimated 1 million people have been left homeless inside the Asian country. While the regime rejected Keating's request to issue more visas for relief workers, it did agree to admit two extra cargo planes carrying relief supplies, Luu said." "Here they are with a major catastrophe on their hands and they do not allow the full might of a compassionate world to help them,'' U.S. President George W. Bush said in an interview with CBS Radio.

Damn. Rico says he still would've preferred Plan B, with airdrops and a little judicious military action...