KEY POINTS:
The response of Myanmar's military rulers to the humanitarian crisis in the Irrawaddy Delta is beyond insufferable. The obstructiveness of an isolationist and paranoid regime might have been ascribed to incompetence were it not for darker signs: generals re-labelling relief supplies so they seem to be the donors or even confiscating and selling provisions that do get through.
The regime's distaste for outside interference is nothing new: they understated, by as much as a factor of 10, the effects of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami and rejected, to their people's cost, offers of help. Now independent agencies are resorting to smuggling relief into the country, at great danger to their personnel.
World leaders have condemned the junta's response. President Bush called the regime "isolated or callous", and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon registered his "deep concern and immense frustration". But the time for words is past.
The US has not shrunk from invading countries whose regimes did not suit its geopolitical ambitions, excusing their actions as driven by concern for ordinary people.
It should lead a multinational force which intervenes, by force if necessary, and delivers desperately needed aid. It would be a fitting last gesture for President Bush and one which, unlike his invasion of Iraq, the whole world would support and applaud.
