Constitutional revision is aimed at cooperating in U.S. wars: JCP lawmaker

Sasaki Kensho, Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives, on March 22 emphasized that those who are calling for the Constitution to be revised want to revise Article 9 to make Japan's participation in U.S.-led wars constitutional.

Sasaki participated in a TBS TV debate program on the "revision of the Constitution".

Sasaki said that the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq and constitutional revision will be the major issues in the next House of Councilors election in July.

Taking issue with panelists from the Liberal Democratic and Democratic parties, Sasaki pointed out that present calls for a constitutional revision are only extensions of the series of war contingency laws allowing the SDF to be deployed abroad in support of U.S. wars.

Sasaki also said that the SDF dispatch to Iraq amounts to supporting the occupation of Iraq by the U.S. and British forces as an extension of their lawless war on Iraq. Only through non-military and humanitarian support to Iraq can Japan contribute to Iraq's reconstruction in compliance with the Constitution and meet the Islamic/Arabic peoples' expectations, he said.

A TBS survey showed that 68% of respondents said they were opposed to amending the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution, while 26 percent were in favor. Opposition to amending Article 9 was expressed by a majority of the respondents regardless of the political party they support.

Asked if they support constitutional revision or not, 57 percent answered "Yes" and 36 percent "No."

On the use of the right of collective self-defense, 55 percent answered "No" and 35 percent "Yes". (end)