Unjustifiable dispatch to unjustifiable war and occupation: JCP Shii

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on January 26 condemned the government for ordering the Ground and Maritime Self-Defense Forces to send their troops to Iraq, stating that the dispatch is to "support the unjustified war and military occupation."

At a press conference, Shii said, "The dispatch must be canceled because it runs counter to the international calling for an international order of peace based on the U.N. Charter and it infringes on Japan's Constitution."

Shii pointed out that although Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro has supported the U.S. war in Iraq on the grounds that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, that argument has been discredited. "The prime minister ordered the dispatch without reflecting on what he had done. This is not what a responsible politician should do," he added. (end)