US pressing to deliver aid to 'paranoid' Myanmar

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice joined the growing call for Myanmar's leaders to accept the contributions, regardless of the policies of the donors.

"It should be a simple matter," Rice told reporters at the State Department. "This is not a matter of politics, this is a matter of a humanitarian crisis and it should be a matter that the government of Burma wants to see its people receive the help that is available to them."

Her spokesman, Sean McCormack, said the department was asking Myanmar's neighbors and traditional friends, including China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and Thailand to help make the case for accepting aid.

An Air Force C-130 landed in neighboring Thailand and another was on the way, Air Force spokeswoman Megan Orton said Wednesday at the Pentagon.

"When they accept, or if they accept -and we know what supplies they need -those planes will be there to transport those," she said.

A rapid deployment unit designed to be the first people inserted into an operation already works out of Thailand and is at the ready as well. "This is just a positioning of the planes and people," Orton said.

There also are Navy ships in the region that have been alerted they could be called to help. But officials were not optimistic.

Three U.S. officials said it was possible the Myanmar government would only accept money from the United States and would want to buy its own aid supplies -or that it would accept U.S. assistance only as part of the broader United Nations effort.

Villarosa said there were shortages of food and water and that the death toll could hit or exceed 100,000 as humanitarian conditions worsen.

She said she met with three ministers this week and is pressing hard to allow U.S. aid into the country. The junta is blocking aid from other nations, and does not appear to be singling out the United States because of the White House focus on human rights and other abuses in Myanmar, she said.