iraq_war

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Japan's prime minister still justifies Iraq War
Akahata editorial

Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro still insists that the U.S. was "right" to declare war on Iraq. On an NHK program aired on September 4, he said that the Hussein regime refused to accept weapons inspections and that terrorist acts had been taking place even before the Iraq war. These are false allegations used to justify the Iraq War.

No weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq

On March 7, 2003, in the run-up to the March 20 U.S.-British invasion of Iraq, the chief U.N. inspector reported to the U.N. Security Council that Iraq was beginning to cooperate with the inspections positively and on its own initiative. He also said, "It will not take years, nor weeks, but months" to complete the inspections.

However, the U.S.- British forces cut short the inspections and started the war.

Although the U.S. sent more than 1,000 intelligence specialists to Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction after it occupied the country, it could not discover any. The chief U.S. inspector stated that weapons of mass destruction do not exist in Iraq, and the conclusion was shared by the U.N. inspections team. The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in its report on July 2004 concluded that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction and that no evidence existed to prove Iraq's formal relationship with Al-Qaeda.

Therefore, it is now clear that the pretexts the U.S. government used to invade Iraq, such as "Iraq has weapons of mass destruction," and "Iraq has a connection with terrorist groups," were all groundless.

The British independent inquiry committee in July 2004 concluded in its report that Iraq "did not have significant, if any, stocks of chemical or biological weapons in a state fit for deployment or developed plans for using them."

On March 30, 2003, when the U.S. and Britain invaded Iraq, Koizumi expressed support for the war in his mail magazine on the grounds that the question now is how to cope with the threat of Iraq which has weapons of mass destruction. However, the conclusion that Iraq had WMDs turned out to be false. Even after U.N., U.S. and British investigations showed clearly that the charge was false, Prime Minister Koizumi continues to insist that it was a "just" war, uncritically following the U.S. Bush administration in complete disregard of the facts.

The U.S. Bush administration invaded Iraq using the false allegations, killing tens of thousands of Iraqis and destroying the livelihoods of Iraqi citizens. The worsening situation in Iraq basically stems from the lawless war of aggression and occupation.

The Liberal Democratic-Komei government led by Koizumi not only justifies this war of aggression but also cooperates and participates in it. Overriding public opposition, the government deployed the Self-Defense forces in Iraq to operate as part of the multinational force under U.S. command and control.

The government sent the Ground SDF to Samawah by classifying the region as a "non-combat zone" thus disregarding the fact that the whole of Iraq was in a state of war. The Air SDF is taking part in transporting U.S. troops and military supplies. Attacks on the SDF camp site are increasing as the Iraqi people's antipathy is mounting.

Withdraw SDF from Iraq

Without an "exit strategy," Prime Minister Koizumi says he will consider what to do with the SDF in Iraq by the time the term of dispatch expires in December. How dangerous and irresponsible he is!

Twelve countries have already withdrawn their troops. Two countries only keep liaison officers there. Three countries will withdraw their troops this year. The Korean government is reportedly considering reducing its military presence by taking into account public opinion at home. Of the 38 countries that had sent troops together with the United States, only less than half show no sign of pulling out of Iraq.

If Prime Minister Koizumi insists on justifying the war of aggression against Iraq and the deployment of the SDF in Iraq, Japan will be further isolated from the rest of the world and face increased hostility toward Japan. The government must immediately pull the SDF out of Iraq. -- Akahata, September 7, 2005