U.S. ships head for Myanmar as officials decry delay

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four U.S. Navy ships steamed toward cyclone-stricken Myanmar on Thursday as the Bush administration stepped up pressure on the country's military junta to open the door to outside humanitarian assistance.

Navy helicopters and Air Force cargo planes loaded with supplies and personnel also began arriving in nearby Thailand, where U.S. officials established a staging point for possible humanitarian operations.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice phoned her Chinese counterpart to ask Beijing to persuade Myanmar to accept international aid for an estimated 1.5 million people believed to be severely affected by the Cyclone Nargis disaster. The storm is feared to have killed 100,000 people in the country.

The U.S. government believes existing stocks of relief supplies in Myanmar might be enough for about 10,000 people.

In New York, U.S. envoy to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad said Washington was "outraged" by the Myanmar government's delays in allowing relief workers and aid shipments.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates also spoke out forcefully, saying the Pentagon was preparing the same kind of assistance it provided after other disasters in the region, including the 2004 Asian tsunami and the 2005 Pakistan earthquake.

"There is an opportunity here to save a lot of lives and we are fully prepared to help and to help right away, and it would be a tragedy if these assets -- if people didn't take advantage of them," Gates told reporters at a Pentagon briefing.

The United States and Myanmar have long been estranged. President George W. Bush imposed a new round of sanctions on the country's military leaders just last week to pressure them on human rights and political reform.