JCP Shii: End U.S.-led occupation and give way to U.N.-led reconstruction

On the anniversary of the outbreak of the Iraq war on March 20, Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chair Shii Kazuo published the following statement:

It is one year since the U.S. and British forces started the war on Iraq in defiance of the anti-war opinion that spread on a global scale. It was a lawless war of aggression in violation of the United Nations Charter.

The JCP has firmly opposed the war of aggression and the ensuing U.S.-British-led military occupation of Iraq. The past year has seen the forces which began the lawless war tried by the court of history and isolated in the world.

Weapons of mass destruction, which the United States and Britain used to justify the war, have not been found, and the former U.S. chief weapons inspector testified that such weapons did not exist from the outset. The U.S. and British governments are now held responsible for launching the lawless war by deceiving the world.

The war of aggression and the military occupation have turned Iraq into an ideal arena for terrorists, causing a catastrophy. Threats of terrorist attacks, however, are increasing instead of diminishing in the Middle East and elsewhere. It is proof that war only spreads the climate of terrorism and violence and can never resolve a dispute.

In Spain, an ally in the war and occupation along with the United States and Britain, the ruling pro-war party was heavily defeated in the recent general election. Prime Minister-elect Zapatero stated that he will recall the troops unless there is a change in the situation.

These developments show that the war of aggression and military occupation in violation of the U.N. Charter is failing.

The task now is for the international community to immediately end the military occupation led by the U.S. and British forces, establish a U.N.-led framework for reconstruction, return sovereign rights to the Iraqi people both in name and reality, and withdraw the occupation forces without delay.

In dealing with the Iraq question, the Koizumi Cabinet showed extraordinary subordination to the United States and a complete lack of independence. The JCP again expresses its firm protest to this government for offering unreserved support for the lawless war and sending the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq as requested by the U.S. in violation of the Constitution.

Deploying the SDF in Iraq amounts to participating in the war of aggression and military occupation and to the use of force and the exercise of the right of belligerency prohibited by the Constitution. It is also an outrageous action defying the U.N. Charter and rules of peace.

If Japan continues to insist on illegally deploying troops in the war without cause, contradictions between Japan and the Iraqi people as well as between Japan and the Arab-Islamic countries will increase. It will also bring about irreversible sacrifice and calamity on the peoples of Japan and Iraq.

The JCP demands that the plan for the unconstitutional deployment of the SDF be canceled and the SDF be immediately withdrawn from Iraq. (end)