Japan-U.S. alliance is geared to fighting war

The Bush administration's strategy to launch attacks against countries perceived as threats to U.S. interests is forcing Japan to fight wars with the United States under the Japan-U.S. military alliance. Akahata of August 20 published the following article entitled "Changing Japan-U.S. alliance":

Self-Defense Forces as war-fighting armed forces

"After the United States and Britain, Japan is going to maintain the third largest foreign military presence in the Middle East."

This is what Shikata Toshiyuki, professor at Teikyo University, stated at a symposium on security issues in late July in Tokyo. Shikata is former senior officer of the Ground Self-Defense Force.

He went on to say, "The existence of the Self-Defense Forces has been significant per se; it's time they serve as a full-fledged war-fighting force."

The recently enacted "special measures law" on Iraq enables the SDF to take part in the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq as a member of the so-called "coalition of the willing".

As U.S. forces are under constant armed attacks in Iraq, if SDF units are sent in, they will likely be involved in a situation in which they may "kill or be killed", as Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro said in the Diet. This means that the SDF will discard its "exclusively defensive defense" policy to become a full-fledged war-fighting armed forces serving the interests of the United States.

"Post-9/11" is the watchword Defense Agency Director General Ishiba Shigeru and others use nowadays in calling for the SDF and the Japan-U.S. military alliance to have the capabilities to respond to the need for strategic deployments which the United States began as part of its "war on terrorism" after 9/11. They are now seeking to enact a permanent law that would legally allow Japan to have a missile defense system, acquire capabilities to strike enemy bases, exercise the right of collective self-defense, and dispatch the SDF abroad.

A security analyst says that "Japan is called upon to play a part in U.S. military operations regardless of mission."

Enabling Japan to launch preemptive attacks

Japan's government, which supports U.S. preemptive strategy, now interprets the Constitution in a way that enables Japan to preemptively attack other countries.

In January, the director-general of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau stated in the Diet that if a ballistic missile is believed to target Japan, Japan may be allowed to exercise the right of self-defense.

In missile defense, if the government judges that there is likelihood that Japan will be attacked, Japan can strike the enemy before confirming that such an attack is imminent. Such government ideas coincide with the U.S. strategy of preemptive attacks.

Shortly after the war-contingency bills were enacted in late June, young pro-arms buildup lawmakers held an assembly to discuss Japan's security in the new century and issued proposals for reviewing the exclusively defensive defense policy and for allowing Japan to exercise the right of collective defense.

At the discussion, journalist Tawara Soichiro said, "The wartime laws have many shortcomings. If North Korea injects fuel into missiles, it would be determined as an emergency. But that only comes after the United States discovers such moves and informs Japan's prime minister and Defense Agency director-general of the finding."

Tawara meant that the United States is the country that declares Japan's emergency.

No pro-arms buildup Dietmembers taking part in the discussion, including DA head Ishiba Shigeru and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Abe Shinzo, expressed any objections to Tawara's statement.

Experts in security issues share the view that North Korea will never attack Japan without being attacked by the U.S.

Situations in areas surrounding Japan will be connected with national emergency. This dangerous framework has been formed under the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty.

Forcing Japan into 'war on terrorism'

What is the "Japan-U.S. alliance"?

Prime Minister Koizumi says that the aim of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty is for the United States to defend Japan in the event of an emergency.

This contradicts the Law on Situations in Areas Surrounding Japan. Based on the Japan-U.S. Joint Declaration on Security issued by U.S. President Clinton and Japanese Prime Minister Hashimoto Ryutaro and the new Guidelines for Japan-U.S. military cooperation, this law provides that Japan's Self-Defense Forces will undertake "logistic support" in dealing with "U.S. forces' emergency", not "Japan's emergency".

The law technically states that "situations in areas surrounding Japan" are those that "affect the peace and security of Japan".

Under the special measures laws related to the U.S. war on Afghanistan in retaliation for the terrorist attacks and the U.S. war against Iraq, the SDF for the first time extended logistic support to U.S. forces conducting military operations. This has nothing to do with the peace and security of Japan.

Matsuo Takashi, board member of the Japan Peace Committee, who is familiar with the Japan-U.S. alliance, says:

"The Bush administration's 'war on terrorism' integrates expeditionary wars abroad with a war to defend the United States. In the Iraq war, the expeditionary war called 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' and the war of homeland defense called 'Operation Liberty Shield' were combined. The same applied to the U.S. war in Afghanistan. The Bush administration's position is that an ally must go out of the country to 'fight together with the United States. The Japan-U.S. alliance is changing its nature to become a war-fighting alliance against terrorism."

The stated mission of the alliance has been to "defend Japan". But it is now a "war-fighting alliance with the United States".

This not only conflicts with the war-renouncing Constitution but contradicts the SDF Law which is based on the "exclusively defensive defense" policy and the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty.

It is time to fundamentally review the Japan-U.S. alliance. (end)