Don't sacrifice Japanese citizens for Bush re-election

On December 1st, as the killing in Iraq of two Japanese diplomats made the headlines, many Japanese people began to raise voices in opposition to the SDF dispatch plan, fearing that Japan's Self-Defense Forces may face similar tragedies if they go to Iraq.

Three air transport workers' unions published a statement on December 1st in opposition to the SDF dispatch to Iraq and the use of civil aircraft for military purposes. "Terrorists may attack Japanese commercial flights if the government uses civil aircraft to transport SDF personnel and other supplies to Iraq," they said.

The statement says that air transport workers are working hard everyday to secure smooth flights and passengers' safety, and expresses opposition to the SDF dispatch to the region, which is in a state of war, and the use of commercial flights in violation of international law.

In front of the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo on the same day, about 120 citizens, joined by Takahashi Chizuko, Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives, staged a protest against the SDF dispatch to Iraq, holding a sign reading "Don't sacrifice SDF personnel for Bush's re-election."

Akahata on December 2 carried a letter from an 89-year-old former kamikaze pilot saying, "If the SDF go to Iraq, they will be treated as expendable items for U.S. President Bush exactly in the same way as we, kamikaze pilots, were in the Japanese war of aggression." (end)