 Three opposition parties call for SDF Iraq dispatch law to be abolished Regarding the situation of Fallujah as serious, Japan's three opposition parties on November 11 jointly submitted a bill to revoke the Law Concerning the Special Measures on Humanitarian and Reconstruction Assistance in Iraq in order to get the Self-Defense Forces withdrawn from Iraq without delay. Ichida Tadayoshi, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat head, and secretaries general of the opposition Democratic and Social Democratic parties met in the Diet. After discussion, they expressed their disapproval of the statement of Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro in support of the U.S. operations against the residents of Fallujah. The opposition leaders also agreed to call for an immediate halt to such indiscriminate attacks on Fallujah as a serious violation of international humanitarian law. They also agreed to request that the government hold an intensive discussion on the Iraq matter in the budget committees of both houses. (end) |