Stop killing! -- Akahata editorial, April 11The U.S. and British forces in Iraq have reportedly taken control of Basra in the south and the capital city of Baghdad, but combat is continuing around Baghdad and in the north. In the fourth week of invasion confusion persists. There is now growing concern about worsening security in areas under U.S.-British military occupation.
The end of the Saddam Hussein regime appears certain. At this stage it is intolerable that innocent people of Iraq continue to fall victim to the war.
Lawless and savage war
Whatever the outcome of this war may be, it is a lawless and savage war, and the invaders, the United States and Britain, cannot escape their grave responsibility. Regardless of future developments, the two countries will continue to be held responsible for starting the aggression in complete disregard of the international opposition to war.
Precisely when the international community was striving to resolve the question of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction peacefully through inspections based on the United Nations Security Council resolutions, the United States and Britain cut short the efforts and launched their invasion of Iraq. The lawlessness of this war violating the U.N. Charter is clear.
Starting the war by using Iraq's weapons of mass destruction as a pretext, the U.S.-British forces used many cruel weapons, including depleted uranium shells with the danger of radioactive contamination. Their weapons killed and injured not only combatants but many innocent citizens. Journalists whose reports conveyed voices of citizens suffering from the damage of war also became targets.
The U.S. and British invasion is an obvious crime which no reasons can justify. The plain fact is that the U.S.-British forces invaded Iraq, in violation of the sovereign rights of Iraq, to topple the Saddam Hussein regime.
The International Red Cross and other international bodies in Iraq have reported shortages of medicines and hospital beds for the injured, and that the electric and water supply is cut off.
An Iraqi citizen said, "War destroys everything. It cannot be a means of liberating Iraq" (Daily Tokyo Shimbun, April 10 evening edition). This statement should be taken as a warning that the war which is killing innocent people must be stopped before it is too late.
In this lawless and savage war, not only the United States and Britain which invaded Iraq, but Japan's Koizumi Cabinet and the governing Liberal Democratic and Komei parties, which support the war, must be held responsible.
The Koizumi Cabinet and the governing parties have criticized calls for a peaceful solution as "benefiting the enemy" (Secretary General Fuyushiba Tetsuzo of the Komei Party).
But the governing parties keep their mouths shut about it in their election campaigns and the Komei Party has begun to call for "the war to be ended as early as possible", posing as a pacifist to deceive the public.
How can these supporters of war justify the serious damage caused by the U.S.-British invasion of the Iraqi people and their land? How can they justify the lawlessness of this war that violates the rules of the international community? Any attempt to make excuses for supporting the war can't escape public criticism.
Act now to stop the war
This war must end immediately. The task now is to recover the rules of peace established in the United Nations Charter, which has been trampled down by the U.S.-British invasion.
No more killings of innocent Iraqi people! Let us increase the movement to stop the war as quickly as possible. Let us make the simultaneous local elections a vote condemning the Koizumi Cabinet and the governing parties for supporting the war. (end)