SDF are no longer in defense of Japan -- Akahata editorial, August 6 (excerpts)

The Koizumi Cabinet has approved the 2003 "Defense of Japan" white paper defining that the SDF's task is to work for "peace and stability of the international community."

Although the white paper analyzes that the probability of attack on Japan that requires large-scale defense preparations is low, it states that the United States attaches importance to building a "coalition" supporting U.S. wars and that Japan needs to act in close cooperation with the United States under the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty in order to ensure Japan's security and stabilize the international community.

The section on "Japan's contribution to establishing a more stable security environment" cites the Koizumi Cabinet's support for the Iraq War, the enactment of the special measures law (to dispatch the SDF to Iraq), and their dispatch to the Indian Ocean. The chapter also carries the text of the report of an advisory panel to the Chief Cabinet Secretary.

The next step for the government is to enact a law permanently allowing the SDF to be sent abroad, so that Japan will be able to make quick/full-time dispatch of the SDF wherever the U.S. goes to war. This is what the white paper is about.

Commending U.S. wars as preemptive action against threats of weapons of mass destruction and terrorism, the white paper argues that the SDF's close cooperation with U.S. wars is its duty under the Japan-U.S. military alliance.

The SDF are full-fledged armed forces equipped with U.S.-made state-of-the-art weapons. Japan's military budget is second only to the United States, a clear violation of the Constitution that renounces war and prohibits Japan from possessing war potential.

The Self-Defense Forces already goes beyond the limits of "self-defense".

Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro has advocated that "providing is preparing" to justify the contingency legislation. However, as the white paper stressed the need for the SDF to support U.S. preemptive strike, it is clear that the contingency laws were only for 'preparing' Japan to take part in U.S. wars.

In the aftermath of their lawless war against Iraq, both the U.S. and British are losing public support. In some countries that dispatched troops to Iraq to serve as members of the U.S.-led "coalition," people are calling for their withdrawal.

Instead of sharing such calls, the white paper claimed that the SDF must give priority to assisting in U.S. wars. How anachronistic it is for the Japanese government to go against the world current like this.(end)