Lower House 'approval' of SDF dispatch is unacceptable: JCP Ichida

Commenting on the February 1st House of Representatives vote to approve the dispatching of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi on February 2 stated as follows:

It was extraordinary that the government, which had requested the Diet to discuss the dispatch that has a direct bearing on fundamental principles of the Japanese Constitution, used a force of majority to unilaterally cut short the discussion for the vote.

The vote is serious both in its content and the way of parliamentary steering. The government concealed many facts unfavorable to its explanation on the situation in Samawah where SDF units are being deployed.

For example, the prime minister and the Defense Agency chief had to withdraw their assertion that the Samawah City Council still existed and was welcoming the SDF. The government tried to use it as crucial evidence of Samawah being safe.

Also, the JCP revealed an inner document of the Defense Agency and the Foreign Ministry showing that the government had outlined a report to be issued by the SDF advance team in the city.

Learning this, even lawmakers from the ruling party said that the bill was passed to the House of Councilors in an outrageous way.

"Now that it has become clear that neither the Iraq War nor the SDF dispatch can be justified, the government must stop bulldozing through an approval by using their force of majority in the Diet," Ichida stressed.

"The JCP is opposed to start discussing the approval in the House of Councilors unless the ruling parties sincerely deals with the matter," he concluded. (end)