Stop Plans for War on Iraq; nothing can justify this war

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on March 18 published a statement on the March 18 speech by U.S. President George W. Bush issuing an ultimatum to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The text is as follows:

U.S. President Bush in a nationally televised speech at 8:00 P.M. on March 17 (10:00 A.M., March 18, JST) delivered an ultimatum to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein telling him to go into exile within 48 hours, threatening that a rejection of the ultimatum will result in U.S. military attack.

But President Bush in his speech failed to present the world with any justifiable reason for this war. The Japanese Communist Party strongly demands that the United States give up its unreasonable and illegal war plan without delay.

This war will cut short by force the efforts to achieve a peaceful solution to the question of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq exactly when these efforts through U.N. inspections, supported by a majority of the international community, are moving into top gear.

Jumping to the conclusion that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and that their abolition is impossible under the Hussein regime, Bush declared that the United States would overthrow the Hussein regime by war. But all these arguments are based on an arbitrary U.S. judgment that failed to win support in the United Nations Security Council. This is clear from the fact that the United States, Britain, and Spain had to withdraw the draft resolution authorizing a war that they had submitted to the UNSC.

This war is nothing less than a preemptive attack, which is illegitimate without support from the UNSC or legal basis conforming to the UN Charter. None of the several UNSC resolutions that the Bush speech referred to as legitimizing the attack on Iraq justifies the war against Iraq. To urge the president of another country to go into exile and attempt to overthrow his regime by war is an outrageous act denying the very basis for the international peace.

Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro was prompt to express support for the U.S. war plan. But he failed to present the reason of his support for the war. He instead only repeated the U.S. explanation of its unilateral decision, saying, "Now that it is concluded that Iraq's Hussein government is unwilling to disarm itself, I support U.S. military action." We strongly demand that Prime Minister Koizumi withdraw his shameful position of uncritically following the United States in support of the war. (end)