Government spokesman avows Japan's loyalty to Bush

Chief Cabinet Secretary Fukuda Yasuo expressed the Japanese government's unconditional support for whatever he United States does.

He said, "President Bush says that the military campaign goes well and we believe him," during a House of Councilors committee meeting on April 1st. "How irresponsible the Japanese government is," Akahata stated.

Fukuda stated this in answer to Japanese Communist Party Ogata Yasuo's question: Does the government still support the Iraq war even if the war becomes protracted?

Ogata said, "Using the removal of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq as a pretext for the war, the U.S.-British forces are using such cruel weapons as cluster bombs and depleted uranium shells."

Fukuda, however, defended the use of the lethal weapons by saying, "The allied forces are trying to keep injury to unarmed civilians as small as possible."

Ogata said, "It is a big mistake for Japan to continue to be reluctant to stop supporting the Iraq war even if the war continues much longer than expected." (end)