Myanmar Aid Update, U.S. Navy May Leave Area

Myanmar's military junta is creating more delays and havoc among relief workers and still refusing aid from some places.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates made a statement on the issue earlier today saying that he will make a decision in a matter of days about leaving the cost of Myanmar. In the statement he said "it's becoming pretty clear the regime is not going to let us help." He also added that as a result many more people in the country will die.

Asked if the military junta there is guilty of genocide, Gates said, "I tend to see genocide more as a purposeful elimination of people, this is more akin, in my view, to criminal neglect."

Speaking to reporters at the close of an international security conference here, Gates said the Myanmar representative at the forum did not seem interested in speaking with him. But, he said "it was interesting to watch as minister after minister described their respective unhappiness at their inability to get assistance in to Burma."