 Japanese government sees no problem with its support for Iraq war Japan's government insists that its support for the Iraq war, launched on the allegation that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, was correct despite the publication of the U.S. weapons search team conclusion that Iraq did not develop or possess such weapons. On October 7, Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro, who was in Vietnam's Hanoi to attend the Asia-Europe Meeting, made the defiant remark that the report of the U.S. Iraq Survey Group does not affect Japan's stance. Koizumi said that Japan is in a different position from the United States because Japan supported the Iraq War based on a U.N. resolution. In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hosoda Hiroyuki stated that Japan's decision to support the Iraq War shouldn't be criticized even though Iraq had not had WMD. The latest U.S. report, however, clearly denied the existence of WMD in Iraq at the time when the war started. Akahata of October 8 criticized Hosoda for trying to evade the point at issue. (end) |