By BARRY SCHWEID,

AP

Posted: 2007-10-17 20:10:22

WASHINGTON (AP) – Sen. John McCain , a Republican  presidential aspirant, introduced legislation Wednesday to impose targeted sanctions against officials in Myanmar  who played a direct role in a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in the Southeast Asian country also known as Burma.

The move coincided with acknowledgment by the military junta that it detained close to 3,000 people in suppressing recent pro-democracy demonstrations.

The government said nearly 500 people remained in custody.

“The world has reacted with horror and revulsion,” McCain said in a statement. His proposed sanctions would include a ban on visas for the officials and a ban on business dealings with any U.S. entity or person.

McCain said the measure would close a loophole that exists in current U.S. import policy, which allows import of Burmese gems and hardwood. The senator said that adds tens of millions of dollars to the country’s treasury annually.

He called the ruling junta, in power since a 1988 coup, “cruel, thuggish and illegitimate.” The junta is the latest in a line of military rulers that held sway over Myanmar since 1962.

In the House of Representatives , Democratic Rep. Tom Lantos , announced he was preparing a sanctions package designed to block sale through third parties of Burmese rubies in the United States.

More than 90 percent of the world’s rubies and fine-quality jade comes from Myanmar.

The sanctions package prepared by Lantos, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also would freeze assets of Burmese political and military leaders and deny visas to officials involved in suppressing protests.

Last month, the Bush administration imposed sanctions on more than a dozen of the Myanmar junta’s leaders, and the State Department has designated more than three dozen government and military officials and their families ineligible to receive visas for travel to the United States.

First Lady Laura Bush , who usually focuses on domestic issues but has taken on Myanmar’s plight as a cause, declared last week that “the United States stands with the people of Burma.”

Mrs. Bush said the administration was poised to levy additional sanctions against Myanmar unless it loosens its grip on the people.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scot Marciel denounced the rulers as “bad guys” at a hearing Wednesday of the Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and Global Environment.

Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher referred to them as gangsters.

Marciel said sanctions do not always work, but he also testified that “the regime, though isolated, does respond to what the international community thinks.”

U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari this week pressed Asian nations to take the lead in ending the crisis in Myanmar. Japan, the country’s largest aid donor, canceled a multimillion dollar grant to protest the crackdown.

Last week, the U.N. Security Council issued its first-ever statement on Myanmar, condemning the junta’s actions and calling for freedom for all political prisoners.

Rep. Ed Royce, a Republican, called at Wednesday’s hearing for U.S. pressure on China to use its influence with Myanmar. “Unfortunately,” Royce said, “the United States has very little influence with Burma.”

But Democratic Rep. Diane Watson said, “Let’s stop talking about what other countries can do” and take tougher action against the military rulers.

Associated Press writer Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.