Dispatching SDF to Iraq must be foiled: JCP Shii

Commenting on the government plan to dispatch the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq, a recent United Nations resolution, and the October 17 Japan-U.S. Summit Talks in Tokyo, Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo explained the JCP views as follows:

"Directed by Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro, who in the summit talks will reportedly declare that Japan will send the SDF to Iraq, the Defense Agency and the SDF have already started preparations for this.

"The situation in Iraq, however, is far from allowing an SDF dispatch to take place. Note that the law provides that SDF troops 'will not be sent to combat areas in Iraq.'

"Attacks against U.S. and British forces are intensifying, and they are directed at U.N. facilities, leading to a withdrawal from Iraq of many U.N. non-Iraqi staff members, a decrease from over 600 at the peak to less than 30 at present.

"Behind this is the Iraqi people's increasing anger against the lawlessness of the war on Iraq and the illegal occupation that still continues. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has warned about this state of affairs, saying that as long as the occupation continues, resistance will increase.

"If Japan dispatches the SDF to Iraq amidst the situation in which the war is getting bogged down in a guagmire, Japan will become a target of hate and attack. The JCP demands that the government immediately withdraw its plan to dispatch the SDF to Iraq."

Referring to the differences on international assistance to Iraq's reconstruction, Shii stated as follows:

"The first question is who should take the lead in assisting in Iraq's reconstruction and what its framework should be, a U.N.-led one, or a U.S.-led one.

"The second question concerns perspective and the scenario to end the occupation: an early transfer of power to the Iraqi people or the continuation and perpetuation of the occupation.

"Most U.N. member states are in favor of the former plan, and only a few number of states are for the latter."

Shii criticized the Japanese government for rushing to dispatch the SDF to Iraq to reinforce the U.S.-British occupation forces and contribute funds that will be managed by the U.S., and went on to say, "However, the Japanese government failed to put forward any ideas of its own regarding in what framework the assistance should be made. It is just adhering to all U.S. demands on Japan. Such an attitude in complete subservience to the U.S. must be rejected."

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In his comment made on the night of October 17 on the Japan-U.S. summit talks, JCP Chair Shii stated:

"The need now is for Japan to work for the establishment of an international framework for assisting in Iraq's reconstruction, and to carry out humanitarian aid to Iraq through non-military means." (end)