War has failed to end terrorism -- Akahata editorial, September 11One year has passed since the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The outrageous crime, which has deprived many people of their lives indiscriminately, has infuriated people throughout the world.
How can we eradicate such cruel acts of terrorism that can't be justified by any religious beliefs or political opinions?
After the September 11 tragedy, the task of ending terrorism has become one of the major concerns for human beings to survive in the 21st century.
What has been made clear?
One thing has become clear during the past year: War can't end terrorism.
The U.S. military attack on Afghanistan has toppled the Taliban regime at the cost of many innocent lives. But the mastermind of the terrorist attacks on the U.S. has not been captured.
The U.S. Bush administration began attacking Afghanistan on the grounds that it is necessary to destroy the terrorists' international network. It has now declared an expansion of its war beyond Afghanistan, saying that dangerous killers are scattered all over the world.
This is a confession that the U.S. retaliatory war has failed to destroy the terrorists' network and that the U.S. can't but expand the war against terrorists without limit.
This is why people in the United States, the military giant, are not free from the fear of terrorism. Ironically, the Bush administration, which started the retaliatory war in the name of an operation for everlasting freedom, is increasing restrictions on people's freedoms because of the fear of terrorism.
The retaliatory war has no legal foundations under international law. Therefore, it undermines the cause of the efforts to eliminate terrorism and will only play right into the terrorists' scheme.
It is natural that public opposition to the use of military force to end terrorism is increasing in the world.
In order to eliminate terrorism, it is necessary to take the suspects into custody, bring them to justice, and establish all the facts about the international terrorist organization.
Japanese Communist Party Central Committee Chair Fuwa Tetsuzo and Executive Committee Chair Shii Kazuo jointly sent letters to the heads of states immediately after the September 11 attack, stating that it is necessary for the international community to join hands to bring the terror attack suspects into custody and not retaliate against them with military force in order to supposedly end terrorism. The subsequent development of the situation shows what they stressed was on target.
What the JCP leaders pointed out in their letter accords with the United Nations Security Council resolution unanimously adopted the day after the September 11 terrorist attacks, which called "on all States to work together urgently to bring to justice the perpetrators, organizers and sponsors of these terrorist attacks."
Throughout the past year, it has become clearer that the "outrageous hegemonism" of the U.S. Bush administration, claiming that it will carry out preemptive attacks without hesitation, has brought the worst kind of threat to the international community. The experiences of the past year also teach us that terrorism can be eliminated only when we increase international solidarity and cooperation to maintain the world peace order under the United Nations Charter.
Hegemonism is unacceptable
The world in the 21st century is not the same as in the old days when outrages resorting to arms were common.
The reckless threat of attack on Iraq by the Bush administration has prompted voices of criticism from throughout the world. The criticism is increasing so that the U.S. State Department has had to mention the need to dealing with "anti-U.S. sentiment" in the world.
The question for us is what Japan should do in this critical situation.
The Japanese government has the choice of either following and cooperating with the U.S. government schemes to go to war or making efforts to establish an international unity to root out terrorism in accordance with the international peace order. (end)