Anachronism of giving war priority -- Akahata editorial, April 17

The Koizumi Cabinet has approved a set of three wartime bills in case of foreign military attack.

These are laws that, if enacted, would restrict people's "freedoms and rights" and force the public into cooperating with the government taking "contingency steps" in response to outside military attacks or situations that might lead to such attacks. These bills will open a path for Japan to become a war nation again that will mobilize the people to wars and deprive them of fundamental human rights.

Past Liberal Democratic Party governments have attempted to get such legislation enacted for years, and this is the first time that such bills have been actually submitted to the Diet.

The Diet is in a tense situation as the Koizumi Cabinet is aiming to bulldoze the bills quickly through in the current Diet session.

What is 'preparation' for?

Public facilities, such as broadcasting stations, utilities, transportation, and telecommunications, will have to comply with government orders for the implementation of contingency plans. Medical workers, transport workers, civil engineers, and building constructors will also be mobilized. The bills even refer to the use of private houses and land in the event of an emergency.

The wartime laws will force the public to obey orders to maintain supplies in storage and accept on-the-spot inspections; disobedience will incur penalties. Anyone may be arrested and treated as criminals.

What the bills are intended to do is to compel the people to take part in wars by authorizing the prime minister to instruct local governors or even mobilize local governments by himself.

These bills are preciesely for turning Japan into a war nation in violation of the constitutional provisions.

The prime minister says, "Providing is prevailing," but it is also a fact that the government in the Diet has admitted that it is unlikely that Japan will come under attack from neighboring countries.

It is for this reason that Prime Minister Koizumi had to take up such issues as terrorist attacks and suspicious armed ships to convince the people as if a war is imminent, arguing for the need to promote wartime legislation.

Preventing terrorism from taking place and suspicious ships from intruding into Japan's territorial waters is the task of the police and the Coast Guard. Possible terrorist attacks or suspicious ships cannot be used to justify the need for wartime contingency legislation.

Everyone knows that Japan is a country which once carried out wars of aggression. If Japan uses military force to respond to terrorism or suspicious ships, it would increase tension in Asia and force other nations to take guarded approaches towards Japan.

At a time when there is no probability of Japan being directly attacked by other nations, why does the Koizumi Cabinet rush to have the bills enacted? Because it wants to get ready to cooperate with the U.S. in reckless wars in Asia.

In fact, although Japan is not under attack from outside, the contingency laws will be invoked when the U.S. Forces initiate a war in Asia with Japan's Self-Defense Forces taking part in logistics support.

The Defense Agency director general in the Diet said that "situations surrounding Japan" can be used to justify the invocation of the laws.

The contingency planning in the bill assumes a situation in which it is believed that a military attack on Japan may be "likely." This means that once the U.S. forces brings on war in Asia creating a "situation surrounding Japan," the prime minister can declare that Japan "may come under attack from outside" and invoke the contingency laws.

The contingency bills are aimed at establishing a system for a general mobilization in "preparation" for Japan's participation in U.S. wars.

The mobilization of the people, the change of the national structure, and all other contents of the bills are what the setting up of a system giving war a top priority is all about.

Governments have failed many times

Past LDP governments have tried but failed several times to enact wartime bills due to strong opposition of the people who rejected the need for Japan's preparedness to respond to outside attacks.

The government's argument has been rejected even in the era of the U.S.-Soviet confrontation.

It is anachronistic that the Koizumi Cabinet and the ruling parties are ignoring the strong trend for peace in Asia.

The Japanese people have pledged not to let Japan conduct a war again and worked to establish a society where public freedom and rights are respected. Let's work together to block the Koizumi Cabinet's move to get the contingency bills enacted. (end)