U.S. and British reports show Iraq War to be lawless -- Akahata editorial, July 16

The reports separately published by U.S. and British investigative committees on the developments leading to the start of the Iraq War made clearer than ever that the justifications used to go to war were unfounded and that neither biological nor chemical weapons, nor materials for nuclear weapons, existed. Unable to refute this conclusion, both U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair assume a defiant attitude, which in itself is proof that the war is unjust.

Passing the buck

The report the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence published on July 9 proclaimed that U.S. intelligence statements about the threat of weapons of mass destruction in prewar Iraq were either exaggerated or unproven. It also openly states that the former Hussein regime of Iraq had no operational ties with the international terrorist group Al Qaeda.

The U.S. Bush administration initiated a war against Iraq, alleging that Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was helping the terrorist group. Previously, the United Nations inspection team director and the U.S. inspection team head had testified that no weapons of mass destruction existed in Iraq. The U.S. Congress' bipartisan report this time has undermined any rationale for the United States to go to war against Iraq.

President Bush responded to the revelation by saying that the intelligence committee report has brought to light the flaws in U.S. intelligence activity. This isn't what the report is all about. The U.S. Bush administration is responsible for waging a war of aggression with no grounds whatever, causing the death of more than 10,000 Iraqi people.

The British Joint Intelligence Committee's report released on July 14 also concluded that Iraq before the war had no deployable biological or chemical weapons. Referring to the British government document in which the Blair administration played up the Iraqi threat by saying that Iraq could deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes, the report concluded that this statement should not have been made.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said, "I accept full personal responsibility for the way the issue was presented and any errors made." The question is how he will take responsibility.

It is outrageous that President Bush stated, "Although we have not found stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, we were right to go into Iraq," thus implying that the U.S. has a right to overthrow a foreign government which it considers as a "threat" and that this view has been shared by Blair. The use of force against a country just because it could be a future "threat" is a war of aggression, and no country is allowed to engage in such a lawless act. Preemptive attack is prohibited by the U.N. Charter and international law.

This is why the majority of countries and citizens throughout the world have opposed the war of aggression against Iraq and why the U.N. Security Council did not give the green light to go to war.

Prime Minister Koizumi must answer

The U.S. and British government heads are not the only leaders who should be held responsible for the Iraq war. Eating out of Bush's hand, Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro asserted that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and kept supporting the war, putting Japan in the position of accomplice to the aggression. Now that the pretext for starting the Iraq war is destroyed, Koizumi must admit that he made a mistake.

Furthermore, the prime minister infringed on the Constitution by dispatching the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq and incorporating them into the multinational force. Such policies came under severe criticism in the House of Councilors election. The withdrawal of the SDF from Iraq will be the first step to correct the mistake of supporting the war. (end)