JCP Ichida criticizes government on SDF dispatch to Iraq

Chief Cabinet Secretary Fukuda Yasuo on September 1 indicated the government's intention to send an investigating mission to Iraq as soon as possible in preparation for a Self-Defense Forces dispatch to the region.

Asked for a comment on this at a press conference on the same day, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi criticized the government's policy concerning the Iraqi matter.

Ichida told reporters that the SDF dispatch law is problematic as has been revealed in the Diet. He specifically pointed out that the Iraq war was started in violation of the U.N. Charter, that Iraq is virtually under U.S. occupation, and that it is not possible to divide Iraq into non-combat and combat zones.

He also pointed out that dispatching the SDF to Iraq would only help to complicate the situation, particularly since weapons of mass destruction have not been discovered.

"The urgent need now is to let the United Nations take the lead in the effort to help Iraq's reconstruction in a way that respect Iraq's sovereignty," said Ichida. (end)