63% of ASDF’s airlift in Iraq is U.S. force-related
More than 60% of the Air Self-Defense Force airlift under the pretext of “humanitarian reconstruction assistance” in Iraq was related to transport of U.S. force personnel, including armed troops.
The revelation came in the document that the Defense Ministry disclosed in response to the request made by Akahata under the Free Access Information Law.
The document showed that U.N. personnel transport, which the Liberal Democratic and Komei government symbolized as “reconstruction assistance” in Iraq, amounted to only 6% between March 2004 and December 2008. After September 2006 alone, the ratio barely reached 10%.
When the U.S. Bush administration launched the Iraq War based on deceitful information, Japan unconditionally expressed its support and sent the ASDF to Iraq on an airlift mission.
Akahata calculates that the ASDF transported about 45,000 persons in total. Among them, 63% were U.S. military servicemen and personnel, and 26% were Defense Ministry officials and SDF personnel.
Transporting armed soldiers is tantamount to carrying weapons and ammunition though this is prohibited by the Special Measures Law on Iraq.
In addition, almost all the cargo the ASDF delivered consisted of military supplies and equipment, including vehicles and aircraft supplies of the U.S. forces. In contrast, it actually carried very little humanitarian assistance goods.
The Defense Ministry dispatched the SDF in the name of “reconstruction assistance” and has hidden the detail of the ASDF’s airlift mission from the public. The ministry should conduct a thoroughgoing examination into the role the ASDF played, and not bring the curtain down on this issue.
- Akahata, October, 7, 2009