Talk of 'democracy' can't justify attack against Iraq -- Akahata editorial, March 5 (excerpts)

U.S. President George W. Bush has stated that the U.S. forces may occupy Iraq for a long time after the planned war's end with the aim of overthrowing the Iraqi government and promoting democracy in that country.

Citing the U.S. forces' occupation of Japan after WW II, the U.S. president said that the establishment of a new government in Iraq will help promote the "democratization" of the whole of the Middle East.

The United Nations Charter only recognizes the use of force as a collective response to suppress acts of aggression and explicitly outlaws the overthrow of a foreign government by military force as interference in internal affairs.
The United Nations is now proceeding with inspections of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq based on U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441 to eliminate the threats posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction to international peace and security. These inspections are not based on the conclusion that Iraq is the destroyer of peace and must be subdued as was the case with Japan in WW II or Iraq invading Kuwait.

It is undemocratic and against international law for the U.S. president to call for a war aimed at replacing a foreign government on the grounds that it is "undemocratic".

Turkey has refused to allow U.S. forces attacking Iraq to be stationed in the country. The decision was based on the Turkish people's anxiety that a war in the neighboring country will ruin their own politics and economy. The people of Turkey, wishing for peace and democracy, rejected the U.S. pressure demanding to use Turkey as a forward base for the war.

The U.S. president's statement is a blatant expression of what the new U.S. and British resolution is intended to accomplish.

The development of the global anti-war movement indicates that an overwhelming international opinion is calling for war to be averted and the question solved by peaceful means through continued and strengthened weapons inspections.

We must not allow the excuse which the U.S. Bush administration is using, that the war will democratize Iraq. Democracy demands that the people turn their desire for peace into a force to change politics by isolating the pro-war forces. (end)