More Than 22,000 Dead in Burmese Cyclone

Myanmar's state radio reported more than 22,000 are dead and another 44,000 missing after this weekend's cyclone. An international aid effort is under way to the country (also known as Burma) and Myanmar's isolated regime says it will welcome help (the military junta refused aid after the 2005 Asian tsunami. But First Lady Laura Bush sharply criticized the military junta as "very inept" and called their slow response "just the most recent example of the junta's failures to meet its people's basic needs."

While it doesn't get as much discussion in foreign policy circles, disaster relief is actually one of the American public's top foreign policy priorities, according to our Confidence in U.S. Foreign Policy Index. Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) say helping out in natural disasters should be a "very important" priority, on a par with preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. And the public views international relief as one of the nation's strong suits, with 76 percent giving the U.S. an A or B grade.