SDF dispatch plan goes against the Constitution and international law -- JCP chair to prime minister

Opposition party leaders met with Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro on December 9 and expressed opposition to the government's "Basic Plan" for deploying Self-Defense Force personnel to Iraq.

The meeting was held at the Prime Minister's Official Residence shortly before the Cabinet members met to approve the plan and was attended by Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo, Democratic Party of Japan President Kan Naoto, and Social Democratic Party President Fukushima Mizuho.

In the meeting, JCP Chair Shii stated, "The 'Basic Plan' is doubly outrageous because it goes against international law and the Japanese Constitution."

He emphasized that the support activities set out in the "Basic Plan" for ensuring security will mean assisting in the illegal occupation through assigning SDF units to missions as a part of U.S.-British occupation forces.

Shii said that the Japanese government should support efforts to replace the U.S.-British occupation of Iraq with a U.N.-led framework for the resolution of the Iraq question. (end)