Bill to extend SDF Iraq dispatch passed Lower House

   The ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties used their majority in the House of Representatives Plenary Session on May 15 to pass a bill to extend for two more years the period of dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq.

   The Japanese Communist, Democratic, and Social Democratic parties voted against this bill.

   Taking the rostrum before the vote, Japanese Communist Party representative Akamine Seiken pointed out that it is a well-established fact that the Iraq War is a war of aggression waged in violation of the United Nations Charter, that the government cannot deny the fact that the SDF in Iraq has been engaged in activities in support of the U.S. war, far from “humanitarian reconstruction assistance”, and that the U.S. occupation, which the SDF is supporting, runs counter to Iraqi reconstruction.

   “There is no justification at all for continuing the SDF deployment to Iraq. This bill must be scrapped,” Akamine stated.

   Recalling that the day, May 15, marked the 35th anniversary of Okinawa’s reversion from the U.S. to Japan and that Okinawa came under the Japanese Constitution, Akamine, who is the JCP Okinawa Prefectural Committee chair, stated, “We will vehemently reject Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s move to throw away the Constitution to push ahead with the scheme to wage wars abroad side by side with the U.S.”                           - Akahata, May 16, 2007