  U.S. justification of Iraq War has gone bust -- Akahata editorial, September 16U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in a testimony to a Senate committee hearing stated, "It's unlikely that we will find any stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq." By this he acknowledged that the claim of WMD which the United States used as the biggest pretext for its war of aggression against Iraq is unfounded, exposing the war as unjustifiable. Indiscriminate attacks going on In February 2003, a month before the United States started the Iraq War, Powell in his report to the United Nations Security Council stated that the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein not only had WMDs but was trying to produce more. He thus paved the way for the United States to declare war on Iraq in March. The seven mobile biological and chemical weapons development facilities which he insisted that Iraq had were not found. David Kay who led the U.S. investigative team last January testified that there is no evidence of Iraq stockpiling WMDs. Powell, however, insisted that the issue had not yet been settled and that as WMDs might be discovered later. Powell ended the argument by acknowledging the unlikeliness of finding WMDs, since claiming that he was misinformed. In the UNSC meeting in February 2003, Powell gave a report in which he described the Hussein regime as supporting the international terrorist group Al Qaida. The Senate special committee on intelligence, however, concluded there was no evidence for the allegation. It is now clear that the Iraq War is U.S. aggression against Iraq on false charges. For all this, one and half years since the war broke out, the U.S. forces are still carrying out a campaign involving the indiscriminate killing of Iraqi citizens, in the name of combating militants. This means that they are still carrying on the lawless war of aggression, which further infuriates the Iraqi people. Unless the U.S. forces stop their high-handed military operations, pull out from Iraq promptly, and present a clear plan for sovereignty to be returned to the Iraqis in the true sense of the word, neither safety nor reconstruction will be brought about to Iraq. The task now is for the international community to make every possible effort to achieve this end. In this regard, it is important to question the responsibility of the Japanese government. Last March, Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro determined Iraq as a "country possessing weapons of mass destruction" and unconditionally supported the U.S. war of aggression. Last June he stated, "I believe that Iraq's WMD will be found sooner or later." In February this year he was still saying, "It's not strange for me to identify Iraq as a WMD possessing country." What is he going to do in response to the Powell statement that it's unlikely WMD are to be found in Iraq? Koizumi is currently on a tour abroad. Asked by reporters if the Japanese government admits its mistake of believing every word Powell said at that time, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hosoda Yasuyuki stopped short of giving a clear answer except for referring to the past use of WMD by Iraq before the war. Admit its mistake and withdraw SDF! The Koizumi government dispatched Japan's Self-Defense Forces to Iraq as part of "the Coalition of the Willing" that supported the U.S. war of aggression against Iraq, and now allows the SDF to take part in the U.S.-led "multinational force". The U.S. Bush administration leadership by its own statement abandoned a pretext of its war of aggression against Iraq, yet the U.S. forces continue barbarous hostilities against Iraqis. It is unacceptable for Japan to keep deploying the SDF as if in the same position as U.S. forces. Prime Minister Koizumi should admit that Japan's support for the U.S. war of aggression against Iraq was wrong and immediately withdraw the SDF from Iraq. (end) |