USS Iwo Jima joined in attacks on Iraq after being refueled by SDF vessel

   The U.S. amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima joined in attacks on Iraq immediately after being refueled by the Maritime Self-Defense Force supply ship Mashu in September 2006, according to U.S. military documents.

   This shows that the fuel supplied by the MSDF was used in violation of the Anti-Terrorism Special Measures Law that restricts the use of Japan’s fuel to military operations in support of the war on Afghanistan.

   The Mashu refueled the Iwo Jima in the Persian Gulf on September 22, 2006, according to U.S. Navy websites. In October, Harrier fighter jets that took off from the Iwo Jima were engaged in operations around Basra in southern Iraq, reported the Marine Corps News on December 4. Also in October, a Marine Corps ground combat unit belonging to the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group took part in the operation in Anbar Province in western Iraq.

   Between July 4 and November 6, 2006, the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group was under the U.S. Central Command in charge of operations both in Iraq and Afghanistan. The November 10 issue of the Marine Corps News reported that the Iwo Jima-based Harriers carried out combat flights in Afghanistan and Iraq.

   It was already known that the Iwo Jima took part in attacks on Afghanistan after being refueled by the Mashu on September 4, 2006.     - Akahata, October 11, 2007