P.E.N. Club assembles to protest against SDF dispatch
The Japan P.E.N. Club on February 6 held an urgent meeting on the issue of war and peace and published a statement calling for the withdrawal of the Self-Defense Forces from Iraq.
The organization, which issued a similar statement last November in opposition to an overseas deployment of the SDF in defense of the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, pointed out in its latest statement that the SDF dispatch is "nothing but extending 'military support' to the U.S.-British occupation of Iraq."
At the meeting, writer Asada Jiro said, "Although I used to be in the SDF, I am a total pacifist. Everybody knows that military forces must not be sent outside of its country," and received a round of applause from the audience.
P.E.N. statement
Following is an excerpt of the Japan P.E.N. Club statement in opposition to the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq.
At the U.S. government's request and citing the importance of maintaining the Japan-U.S. alliance, the Koizumi Cabinet and the ruling parties have dispatched the SDF to Iraq in defiance of objections from many people as well as the opposition parties.
The Japan P.E.N. Club is not defending the former Saddam Hussein regime or his reign of terror over the Iraqi people; We definitely oppose indiscriminate terror attacks.
We believe that Japan is a developed country that can contribute to the international community fully in such areas as economic support, education, medical services, agriculture, and industrial technologies.
In the first place, the United States started the Iraq war preemptively in violation of international law and in disregard of international opinion, without United Nations Security Council authorization.
Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, which the United States used as the pretext for going to war, have not yet been found.
The overseas deployment of the SDF carrying firearms and other weapons goes against Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution renouncing military force as a means of settling international disputes.
We think that Iraq must be reconstructed and governed by the Iraqi people with the help of the United Nations, not by U.S.-British occupation forces.
The Japan P.E.N. Club demands that the Koizumi Cabinet and the ruling parties pledge never to drive the people into war and to withdraw the SDF from Iraq. (end)
