War fails to eradicate terrorism: JCP Ichida

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War fails to eradicate terrorism: JCP Ichida

On September 11, marking the 5th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in the U.S., Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadatoshi stated that the last five years have proven that war cannot eradicate terrorism.

At a press conference in the Diet Building, Ichida said, "It is very important to oppose terrorism by judgment in accordance with internationally accepted laws and world public opinion."

Referring to U.S. President George Bush's acknowledgement that Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction as well as the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee's report concluding that there were no links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, Ichida stressed, "Any justification for the Iraq war has completely collapsed."

He stated that the Japanese government and the ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties should apologize to the Diet and the public for giving full support to the U.S. war on Iraq at the request of the U.S. and dispatching the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq.

"The major wave for peace initially caused by the outbreak of the Iraq war has been continuing to develop, bringing much diversity to it. We have strong confidence in the increasing current calling for the defense of the U.N. rules for peace," said Ichida.
- Akahata, September 12, 2006