 JCP Koike urges government to withdraw SDF from Iraq At the House of Councilors Audit Committee meeting on December 2, Japanese Communist Party Diet Policy Commission Chair Koike Akira denounced the U.S. forces in Iraq for massacring Fallujah's citizens in violation of international humanitarian laws and urged the Japanese government to immediately get the Self-Defense Forces withdrawn from Samawah. Showing a list of violations of international humanitarian laws under the Geneva Conventions, including attacks on civilians, Koike said that the world will take Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro's statement that "the Fallujah operation must succeed" as an open declaration that Japan tolerates such violations, Koike said. Koizumi insisted that the U.S. operation was necessary in order to get rid of terrorists and ensure that Iraq's general election will succeed. Koike said, "The U.S. attacks are the cause of public indignation and a cycle of terrorist attacks." Referring to the U.S. forces' indiscriminate attacks with cruel weapons, such as cluster bombs, depleted uranium shells, napalm, and "bunker buster" bombs, Koike asked the prime minister if he has requested U.S. President George Bush to stop using them. Koizumi answered "No." Pointing out that 10,000 U.S. troops have been deployed to Iraq from U.S. bases in Japan, Koike criticized the government for making Japan an accomplice in the lawless and inhumane Iraq war. Refuting Koizumi's answer that a loose attitude toward terrorists will only increase uneasiness in the world, Koike stated that assisting in the lawless war will sow the seeds of troubles in the 21st century. Koike demanded that the government pull the SDF out of Iraq before the present deployment expires on December 14. (end) |