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Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Air SDF must immediately be pulled out of Iraq
- Akahata editorial (excerpts)

The Japanese government on June 20 decided to withdraw the Ground Self-Defense Force from Samawah in Iraq and expand the Air SDF transport operations to Baghdad and northern Iraq where combat is taking place. The expanded transport support functions of the ASDF will be a key to continuing the war by U.S. and multilateral forces. It will lead to directly supporting the U.S. forces' combat operations.

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo demanded at a meeting with Koizumi that not only the GSDF but the ASDF must also be immediately pulled out of the country.

The SDF's dispatch to Iraq and its activities in Iraq over the past two and half years show the world that Japan has been playing a role in the U.S. preemptive war in violation of the Japanese Constitution and the United Nations Charter. Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro committed a serious error when he said at a press conference on June 20 that the SDF Iraq dispatch was appropriate.

The Iraq War is an unjustifiable war in violation of the U.N. Charter. In launching the attack on Iraq, U.S. President Bush denounced the Hussein government as a lawless regime threatening the peace with its weapons of mass destruction, but many countries, including NATO members, refused to cooperate with the United States.

However, at a time when many countries were critical of the invasion, Koizumi lost no time in expressing his support for the war and dispatched SDF units.

The Bush administration made massive efforts to discover WMDs in Iraq in vain. Nor could Bush come up with any proof showing Iraq's involvement in the 9/11 attack, leading his argument to justify the war as "a war on terror" bankrupt. Discouraged by the U.S. deception, 14 of the original 38 countries that sent troops to Iraq as U.S. allies have withdrawn from Iraq.

Nevertheless, rejecting calls for the withdrawal of the SDF from Iraq, the Koizumi government has been supporting the Bush administration which is increasingly isolated in the world. Koizumi opted to go with the Japan-U.S. military alliance rather than standing by the international peace order based on the U.N. Charter.

It is a grave violation of the war-renouncing Constitution for the government to dispatch the SDF to a foreign country where war is raging. It is absolutely unacceptable that by continuing to keep the SDF in Iraq, Japan has helped the U.S. military rule over Iraq for these past two and half years.

The government decided to expand the ASDF activities in Iraq in order to meet the strong U.S. demand. The fact that Koizumi is giving this decision as a gift to the United States clearly shows Japan's extraordinary subservience to the United States.

The Iraq situation cannot be resolved by the use of force. In view of the importance of breaking the vicious circle of violence, not only the GSDF but the ASDF must be pulled out of Iraq without delay. Japan must stop its military support for the U.S. war.
- Akahata, June 21, 2006