JCP Ichida: Stop the war before talking of postwar reconstruction

On NHK's "Sunday Debate" program broadcast on March 23, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi demanded that the ruling parties work to stop the war instead of talking of Japan's contribution to Iraq's postwar reconstruction.

Ichida pointed out that the United States started a war on Iraq even though it had not been attacked by Iraq, and that the action was based on the arbitrary judgment that the Iraqi regime is dangerous. He said that preemptive attack is prohibited by the U.N. Charter.

"If the United States is permitted to act as chief justice, the world will be dominated by lawlessness and disorder," Ichida added.

Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Yamasaki Taku said, "U.N. Security Council Resolution 678 and two previous resolutions can be used to justify the war."

Ichida refuted, "The United States wanted a new resolution because the existing resolutions do not allow the use of force. The argument that the use of force is permissible even under the old resolutions, after the attempt to have a new one approved has failed, is a deception. Employing Resolution 678 to supposedly defend Kuwait from aggression today does not make sense."

Komei Party Secretary General Fuyushiba Tetsuzo tried to justify the U.S. war on Iraq using the North Korea question as a trade-off. He said, "Will the United States come to defend Japan under attack in the absence of trust between our two countries?"

Ichida argued, "It's wrong to try to maintain Japan's security at the cost of the lives of many innocent people in Iraq. If Japan endorses a military solution, it will mean approving of the use of force against North Korea in defiance of the ongoing efforts to resolve pending issues peacefully."

Yamasaki then referred to the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty as a reason for Japan's support for the war saying, "Japan is a U.S. ally."

Pointing out that even Canada, a close ally of the United States, has refused to support the U.S. war on Iraq, Ichida said, "The Koizumi Cabinet is mistakenly believing that the Japan-U.S. alliance can be used for justifying anything."

The Komei Party's Fuyushiba said that Japan should take the lead in humanitarian aid programs for the postwar reconstruction in Iraq.

Ichida said, "How can the government talk of humanitarian assistance when it is supporting the war that involves indiscriminate killings? You can't reconstruct human lives lost. If Japan, with its war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution, talks of postwar reconstruction, it must first demand an immediate halt to the war. The coalition government parties are not in a position to talk of humanitarianism." (end)