SDF dispatch to Iraq will only deepen contradictions -- Akahata editorial, July 29The Koizumi Cabinet is planning to dispatch the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq in autumn under the new "special measures law" it rammed through the Diet.
In Iraq, the U.S. invasion has been turned into a counter-insurgency war. Japan's defense chief recently stated that in its initial stage the SDF in Iraq will focus on humanitarian assistance.
The DA chief tries hard to obscure the government's aim of the dispatch; its mission to assist U.S. forces which are in a quagmire of guerrilla warfare.
Counter-insurgency war reminds us of Vietnam war
SDF activities in Iraq under military occupation, whether they are supplying water or maintaining public order, would be regarded as activities assisting in the U.S. and British occupation.
Now that the two forces are occupying Iraq in the aftermath of the invasion, they have the obligation to maintain public order and livelihoods in accordance with the rules of war, and what SDF units are going to do is to take part in the occupation.
The U.S. forces in Iraq are infuriating the Iraqi people. It is widely pointed out that this could be an anti-insurgency war like the Vietnam war, giving rise to guerrilla warfare like in the Vietnam War. In an article in the Indonesian daily Jakarta Post on July 16, a Yale University analyst pointed out that the U.S. Bush administration fails to draw lessons from wars in China and Vietnam, in which powerful forces were defeated by weaker forces supported by the people.
The U.S. and British governments launched the lawless war on Iraq without any U.N. resolutions. Also, the allegation that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction has now turned out to be based on falsified and exaggerated information. The world now knows that the war and occupation in Iraq have nothing to do with justice.
The Iraqi people are entitled to resist such a lawless invasion and occupation.
It is now three months since the U.S. president declared the war's end. But attacks against the U.S. forces are increasing casualties. As a result of counterattacks by the U.S. forces against demonstrators, many civilians have been killed and injured.
The SDF in Iraq would be more likely to get involved in a hopeless U.S. war.
The SDF going to Iraq are reportedly equipped with recoilless rifles. This indicates that they are to support the U.S. forces in Iraq under fire with rocket launchers and ground-to-air missiles.
Against his statement that the government will not send SDF units to "combat zones," Koizumi claimed in the Diet that "no one can identify combat zones," and that the SDF units may "happen to be killed and may kill Iraqi people," suggesting that he can hardly ignore the reality of Iraq.
A lesson from the Iraq War is that dispatching SDF units can never be allowed under the Constitution which strictly bans the use of force. Ignoring this, Prime Minister Koizumi is pushing ahead with the SDF dispatch plan at any cost because of a single promise he made to the U.S. president that Japan will dispatch ground forces.
The need now is for Japan to observe the peaceful principles of the Constitution, and take measures to assist in Iraq's reconstruction through humanitarian and peaceful means. If the Japanese government dares to dispatch the SDF to Iraq, it will inevitably undermine the wish of the people of Japan that Japan should not support the U.S. war in Iraq. This is a hope shared by the rest of the world.
Japan faces international criticism
The latest plan to dispatch the SDF to Iraq is under severe international criticism. The spokesperson of China's Foreign Ministry published a statement that the plan deviates from Japan's exclusively-defensive defense policy. Many world's media, including China and Korea, have bitterly criticized the legislation. No countries in the Middle East want the dispatch of the SDF.
The fact that the Japanese people don't want the SDF to go abroad only to support the U.S. forces has been exemplified by rapidly mounting public opposition to the dispatch.
The task now is for us to start a struggle to prevent the Iraq dispatch law from being materialized in order to prevent the planned sending of the forces. (end)