egypt, met with government officials and met with the military officials who are for the time being running the government. we want to assist them on the economic reform efforts that they re undertaking. now, ultimately this is up to the egyptians. they re going to have to make these decisions, but we ve offered our advice, and we re offering aid where appropriate. secretary gates, is libya in our vital interest as a country? no, i don t think it s vital interest for the united states. but we clearly have interest there, and it s a part of the region which is of vital interest for the united states. i think a lot of people would hear that and say, well, that s quite striking, not in our vital interest, and yet we re committing resources. but it wouldn t be fair as to what bob just said. did libya attack us? no, they did not attack us. do they have a very critical role in this region? and do they neighbor two countries? you just mentioned, one, egypt.
to give you a sense of the density of the population in japan, it s as if you took half the population of the united states and moved everyone up into a state the size of montana, which gives you a sense of how much need is concentrated in every acre, and this week s christiane amanpour decided to look into how long. reporter: diane, more than 90 countries are offering aid and assistance, but even four days into this disaster, the magnitude is so huge and the desperation overwhelming. i need food. i m running out of food says this businesswoman. but the good news is that some aid was pre-positioned, part of japan s earthquake preparedness effort. we re trying to feed 2,000 people, maybe more. we ll continue as long as our rice lasts, says this aid worker. but the rice, like the rest of the supplies, is not nearly enough.
in here, international aid on its way to japan. i want to go to cnn s jill dougherty live at the state department. secretary clinton put out a statement early on offering thought the, prayers, condolences to those in japan. what are you learning as far as which countries are offering aid and what kind of help are they offering? we have an entire list, actually, there are 38 countries and that includes things like the european union. what specifically they re offering, large countries like china, russia, others are small countries. mongolia, for example. so some of it is an offer. at this point a lot of people have to assess exactly what is necessary. and that in fact is what the united states is doing right now looking specifically at what japan could need. and indeed, perhaps, some of the other countries that could be affected. one thing president obama said they definitely will need, and that is lift capacity. this is the ability to lift very heavy vehicles and concrete and