Give U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates the prize for understatement of the weekend while discussing the tragic situation in Burma:

When asked whether the Myanmar government's actions were tantamount to genocide, Mr. Gates stopped short of that accusation. "This is more akin, in my view, to criminal neglect," he said.

Criminal neglect? You're kidding -- I always thought that Burma's xenophobic junta sponsored some of the best healthcare programs in the world.