Have to wonder, is it the govn't thinking or the folks needing help that are refusing the Marines?
Down in the hull, everything is ready to go. There are tractors and trucks and three huge landing craft. There's water purifying equipment, plastic tarps and wood beams for building temporary shelters. And there are more than 1,300 Marines ready to take it all ashore and get to work. But — even for a strictly humanitarian mission — in the political minefield of southern Asia, getting American boots on the ground is a delicate concept. The first helicopter flights off this Navy flattop began relief operations on Tuesday, flying to the city of Medan on Indonesia's tsunami-struck island of Sumatra, where more than 100,000 people are feared dead and a million or more are homeless after the catastrophic Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami.
Plans to put a Marine expeditionary unit ashore on Sri Lanka with heavy equipment, however, have been put on hold. After being informed that Colombo was scaling down its request for help, this ship and the USS Duluth canceled plans to spearhead relief efforts off Sri Lanka's coast and have instead joined the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its battle group off Sumatra. The USS Mount Rushmore, carrying a smaller contingent of Marines, will travel on to Sri Lanka alone. It was expected to cross the Indian Ocean by the weekend. An advance party of seven Marines arrived in the southern town of Galle Tuesday. Though no firm plans had been set, due to the uncertainty of the situation, the Marines had hoped to put more than 1,000 troops ashore in Sri Lanka to help clear roads and build shelters for refugees.
The Bonhomme Richard, carrying more than 1,300 Marines, has three landing craft aboard that float on air cushions and are capable of putting the troops ashore by the hundred on almost any kind of beach. All are fully loaded and ready to go. But for the time being, that capability will not be used. Instead, the ship's helicopters will continue ferrying supplies to and from the regional airports where they have been piling up, and taking them out to the more remote places where they are needed. |