Paul Wolfowitz, the U.S. deputy secretary of defense, met with a Thai Cabinet minister on Saturday to discuss relief efforts for tsunami victims in Asia, including the US$350 million that Washington has pledged. Wolfowitz also planned to visit hard-hit Indonesia and Sri Lanka. After his private meeting with Thai Defense Minister Gen. Samphan Boonyanant, Wolfowitz was traveling to Thailand's U-tapao air base east of Bangkok, which is being used as a staging area by U.S. military forces delivering relief supplies and personnel to devastated areas around the region. Japan has also been granted use of the base. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. Air Force conducted combat missions out of U-tapao and other Thai bases. Last month's earthquake-triggered tsunami killed more than 157,000 people in 11 countries in Asia and Africa, two-thirds of the fatalities in Indonesia, where Wolfowitz once served as U.S. ambassador. --more 1325 Local Time 1025 GMT
