ASDF in Baghdad helps U.S. forces kill Iraqis

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ASDF in Baghdad helps U.S. forces kill Iraqis
Akahata editorial (excerpts)

The Air Self-Defense Force has been flying into Baghdad to transport the U.S. forces military supplies since July 31, expanding the area of its activities that had previously been limited to transportation between Kuwait and southern Iraq.

In Iraq where 140,000 U.S. troops are still fighting against armed insurgents the situation has been deteriorating and a recent U.S. Department of Defense report admitted that conditions that "could lead to a civil war" exist. In fact, it is the U.S. military operations that have made the situation worse.

The U.S. operations are killing Iraqi civilians. The U.S. troops indiscriminately kill Iraqis, including children and elderly people, with air strikes and seize residents by raiding their private homes.

Transporting U.S. military personnel or military supplies helps the U.S. forces to continue such operations. A U.S. combat commander said that aerial transport of men and supplies "makes the fighting possible." The Japanese government's argument that the ASDF airlift is "aimed at humanitarian and reconstruction assistance" is very deceptive.

Baghdad, where fierce battles still continue, is in a state of war. The ASDF transport of U.S. personnel and supplies contradicts the special measures law on Iraq which prohibits the SDF from conducting activities in areas where combat is considered to be taking place.

The government has admitted that the ASDF C-130 transport aircraft use flares as decays to avoid heat-seeking missiles when landing at Baghdad airport.

The ASDF transport support in Baghdad shows that the ASDF has already become an integral part of the U.S. forces in their combat operations.

However, Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution is preventing Japan from actually using armed force to kill Iraqi civilians.

It is important to increase the movement to defend Article 9 of the Constitution as well as to stop the SDF from assisting the U.S. forces in the killing of Iraqi civilians.
- Akahata, September 13, 2006