Revoke the decision to send SDF to Iraq: Shii

Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chair Shii Kazuo on November 4 stated that back-to-back attacks against outsiders in Iraq prove that the occupation by the United States and Britain of Iraq is reaching an impasse.

Shii pointed out that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, which the United States used as justification for its war on Iraq, have not been found, and the allegations about connections between Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein are yet to be proved.

He said, "What the United States describes as 'war on terrorism' is a self-induced war, and it is against reason to continue the military occupation on the pretext of a 'war on terrorism'."

Shii said that the Japanese government should admit the lawlessness of the Iraq War and that Prime Minister Koizumi must be held responsible for supporting it.

He pointed out that the U.S.-British occupation of Iraq should give way to the U.N.-led efforts to assist in Iraq's recovery so as to pave the way for sovereignty to be restored to the Iraqi people as quickly as possible.

The JCP chair also called on the Japanese government to cancel its plan to dispatch the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq because it tramples on the Japanese Constitution and only encourages the lawlessness of the U.S.-British occupation. (end)