July 18,2010
“Lowering the altitude, I saw the town burning,” testified an Air Self Defense Force pilot of the C130 transport aircraft after completing his mission in Baghdad, Iraq.
Confident in the battlefield
It was in December 2003 when the government began dispatching the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to Iraq, the first time for the Japanese troops to go to an actual combat zone though they have experience in U.N. peacekeeping activities that started with their Cambodian mission in 1992.
Since July 2006, the Air SDF has been airlifting U.S. soldiers in Iraq. As of the end of 2008, the ASDF transported about 24,000 armed U.S. soldiers in total.
“We are no longer a beginner in combat operations,” said former commander of the Air Support Command (ASC) Oda Kunio who had taken control of the airlifting mission in Iraq at a meeting last November. During the meeting, he expressed the “self-confidence” gained from experiencing the reality of the fields of battle.
Not only the ASDF but also the Ground SDF was in Iraq in the name of “humanitarian and reconstruction assistance”. The GSDF took part in water and medical supply activities in the southern province of Samawah. However, there were incidents, including minor attacks on the GSDF vehicles nearly every day that could have turned into catastrophes.
In response to the possibility of attack, the GSDF established lookout posts, an emergency command post, shelters from mortar attacks, and installed air surveillance equipment. The GSDF camp looked like a fortress to repel attack.
During the GSDF stay in Samawah, it repeatedly conducted joint exercises with British and Australian troops, which also took part in their various missions around that area. These forces were actually engaged in battle with armed insurgents.
Another dispatch
The Defense Ministry shows no intention to disclose information regarding guidelines for dealing with attacks on the grounds that that may affect operations of SDF abroad. Japan may again seek to send its forces to other countries to support U.S. wars of invasion by making full use of the SDF experience in Iraq.
In fact, the present government led by the Democratic Party of Japan is considering sending the GSDF to Afghanistan. It even constructed a permanent base in Djibouti under the pretext of supporting anti-piracy missions off the coast of Somalia in East Africa.
The SDF was launched in July 1954 as a supplemental unit to carry out U.S. anticommunist policy. Since then, it has been integrated with the U.S. forces. In the 1990s, Japan became a faithful ally of the United States in its militaristic global strategy.
Air taxis
After the GSDF withdrew from Iraq in July 2006, the only task assigned to Japan was the airlifting of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Aforementioned ASC commander Oda said that the ASDF was sent to Iraq “to help Iraqis” but “all they saw was U.S. soldiers.” Despite having “confidence” in being deployed in a battlefield, he said, “I couldn’t see a just cause for our being dispatched there.” The ASDF literally played the role as “glorified taxi drivers” for the U.S. forces.
In April 2008, the Nagoya High Court ruled that the ASDF airlifting mission in Iraq was in violation of the Japanese Constitution because it was considered to be an act “integral to foreign countries’ use of force.” The ASC commander said, “This high court decision hit me like a body blow.”
Although the Constitution denies the existence of any armed forces in the first place, the SDF integration with the U.S. forces increased, in an extremely subservient manner, with its mission in Iraq.
The SDF received 873 logistics equipment and supplies that included drinking water, food, fuel, and accommodation facilities from the U.S. forces based on the Japan-U.S. Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreement (ACSA). The ACSA requires a recipient country to pay back in cash or in kind to the donor country.
However, the airlift services that the ASDF provided for the U.S. forces at the same time was all for free. Furthermore, the Defense Ministry’s administrative vice minister at that time issued a directive in which he made sure that the ACSA is “not applicable to the airlifting of U.S. soldiers.”
The “Alliance of Subordination” in this serial “Japan-US alliance and SDF” will look into how the SDF was born and where it is headed.
(To be continued)
Confident in the battlefield
It was in December 2003 when the government began dispatching the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to Iraq, the first time for the Japanese troops to go to an actual combat zone though they have experience in U.N. peacekeeping activities that started with their Cambodian mission in 1992.
Since July 2006, the Air SDF has been airlifting U.S. soldiers in Iraq. As of the end of 2008, the ASDF transported about 24,000 armed U.S. soldiers in total.
“We are no longer a beginner in combat operations,” said former commander of the Air Support Command (ASC) Oda Kunio who had taken control of the airlifting mission in Iraq at a meeting last November. During the meeting, he expressed the “self-confidence” gained from experiencing the reality of the fields of battle.
Not only the ASDF but also the Ground SDF was in Iraq in the name of “humanitarian and reconstruction assistance”. The GSDF took part in water and medical supply activities in the southern province of Samawah. However, there were incidents, including minor attacks on the GSDF vehicles nearly every day that could have turned into catastrophes.
In response to the possibility of attack, the GSDF established lookout posts, an emergency command post, shelters from mortar attacks, and installed air surveillance equipment. The GSDF camp looked like a fortress to repel attack.
During the GSDF stay in Samawah, it repeatedly conducted joint exercises with British and Australian troops, which also took part in their various missions around that area. These forces were actually engaged in battle with armed insurgents.
Another dispatch
The Defense Ministry shows no intention to disclose information regarding guidelines for dealing with attacks on the grounds that that may affect operations of SDF abroad. Japan may again seek to send its forces to other countries to support U.S. wars of invasion by making full use of the SDF experience in Iraq.
In fact, the present government led by the Democratic Party of Japan is considering sending the GSDF to Afghanistan. It even constructed a permanent base in Djibouti under the pretext of supporting anti-piracy missions off the coast of Somalia in East Africa.
The SDF was launched in July 1954 as a supplemental unit to carry out U.S. anticommunist policy. Since then, it has been integrated with the U.S. forces. In the 1990s, Japan became a faithful ally of the United States in its militaristic global strategy.
Air taxis
After the GSDF withdrew from Iraq in July 2006, the only task assigned to Japan was the airlifting of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Aforementioned ASC commander Oda said that the ASDF was sent to Iraq “to help Iraqis” but “all they saw was U.S. soldiers.” Despite having “confidence” in being deployed in a battlefield, he said, “I couldn’t see a just cause for our being dispatched there.” The ASDF literally played the role as “glorified taxi drivers” for the U.S. forces.
In April 2008, the Nagoya High Court ruled that the ASDF airlifting mission in Iraq was in violation of the Japanese Constitution because it was considered to be an act “integral to foreign countries’ use of force.” The ASC commander said, “This high court decision hit me like a body blow.”
Although the Constitution denies the existence of any armed forces in the first place, the SDF integration with the U.S. forces increased, in an extremely subservient manner, with its mission in Iraq.
The SDF received 873 logistics equipment and supplies that included drinking water, food, fuel, and accommodation facilities from the U.S. forces based on the Japan-U.S. Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreement (ACSA). The ACSA requires a recipient country to pay back in cash or in kind to the donor country.
However, the airlift services that the ASDF provided for the U.S. forces at the same time was all for free. Furthermore, the Defense Ministry’s administrative vice minister at that time issued a directive in which he made sure that the ACSA is “not applicable to the airlifting of U.S. soldiers.”
The “Alliance of Subordination” in this serial “Japan-US alliance and SDF” will look into how the SDF was born and where it is headed.
(To be continued)
