When the top U.S. military man in the Pacific, Admiral Timothy Keating, flew into Myanmar on Monday aboard a plane carrying relief supplies for victims of Cyclone Nargis, it was a surprise to a lot of people--perhaps nobody more than the admiral himself.

The repressive junta that runs Myanmar (also known as Burma) has long been on the outs with Washington. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice included it in her "outposts of tyranny." Thus any outreach to the country had to be handled delicately.

But with hundreds of thousands of people at risk after the cyclone struck, the Bush administration decided it had to make contact, to try to persuade the regime to accept U.S. humanitarian assistance.

The original plan was for Keating, head of U.S. Pacific Command, to write a letter to Myanmar's government, offering aid. A U.S. Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) was already in the vicinity. Even that step had to be personally approved by Rice and senior officials at the White House, given the chilly relationship between the United States and Myanmar.

The letter was duly sent. US officials were shocked when Myanmar replied--via China, which has been a close ally of the regime--and invited Keating to come himself. Keating flew in on a U.S. C-130 aircraft bearing relief supplies. Henrietta Fore, the head of the US Agency for International Development, elbowed her way onto the flight as well.

As of Wednesday, seven more U.S. relief flights have landed in Myanmar, although the United Nations and many countries are still urging the junta to open the door wider. And the decision to engage Myanmar's government, albeit on a humanitarian issues, has angered many human rights groups.