 Under state of emergency, there cannot be non-combat zone: JCP Ichida Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi at a news conference on November 8 said that there cannot be a non-combat zone in a state of emergency, and emphasized the need to immediately remove Japan's Self-Defense Forces from Iraq in accordance with the special measures law on Iraq. Concerning the state of emergency declared for the whole of Iraq (except for the northern part) by the Iraqi provisional government, JCP Ichida said as follows: "The situation is very serious. From the outset we have opposed dispatches of the SDF to Iraq. The special measures law on Iraq provides that the SDF can only be sent to non-combat zones. There cannot be a non-combat zone in a place where a state of emergency is declared. As the deployment of the SDF will expire in December, the government should pull out the SDF from Iraq instead of extending the term." Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro said he still regards southern Samawah where the SDF are deployed as a non-combat zone, and that the security situation does not conflict with the special measures law on Iraq. On the issue whether or not to keep deploying the SDF in Samawah beyond the expiration date, Koizumi said, "We'll make a decision after comprehensively looking at the situation." However, opinion polls conducted by several TV stations show that about 60 percent of the public expressed opposition to the extension of the SDF deployment while 30 percent supported the extension. A Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) survey shows that 63 percent of respondents say they oppose the extension of the term of deployment while 26 percent support it. In Asahi News Network (ANN), the opinion "against" the extension stands at 58.2 percent while the "for" opinion stands at 31.4 percent. The opposition to the extension is 57 percent in a Japan News Network (JNN) survey, while 35 percent shows their support. A Mainichi Shimbun survey also shows that 51 percent of respondents say they oppose the extension and 27 percent support. (end) |