The Japanese government on November 28 decided to pull out the Air Self-Defense Force from Iraq, ending its operation in support of US forces. After receiving an order from Defense Minister Hamada Yasukazu, the ASDF unit will return to Japan.
Whereas the reason the government gave for the withdrawal was that the security situation in Iraq was improving, no one can deny the fact that domestic opinion against Japan's continued support for the illegal war has been growing day by day, joining with the growing international call for the US-led multinational forces to be withdrawn from Iraq. Clearly, supporting the Iraq War is a mistake. The government should stop all forms of support to this illegal war.
Until a while ago, the government was saying that the ASDF operation in Iraq will be continued. Then Defense Minister Ishiba Shigeru made this clear in July. However, coupled with the growing international calls for a withdrawal of U.S.-led multinational forces from Iraq, it became certain that the UN Security Council resolution that was used to give legal ground to foreign forces' presence in Iraq would terminate in December this year. The agreement that the United States concluded with Iraq to keep US forces stationed in Iraq cannot be used as the reason for the Japanese ASDF to continue its mission there. This is how the ASDF has been compelled to pull out of Iraq.
To begin with, the United States started the Iraq War preemptively in violation of the UN Charter and in defiance of strong opposition by an overwhelming majority of the international community by alleging that the then Saddam Hussein government had weapons of mass destruction, a charge that turned out to be false. It is natural that many countries, including NATO members refused to cooperate in the US-led war that was lawless and unjustifiable. The Japanese government revealed its ugliness by quickly expressing support for the war and adhering to the unjustifiable position of assisting in the war even while many other countries pulled their troops out of Iraq.
Japan's assistance in the war has been contributing to US forces' indiscriminate destruction in Iraq. The Japanese ASDF has been transporting US troops and supplies. We cannot overlook the hard fact that the ASDF gave a lending hand to the indiscriminate killing.
In a lawsuit calling for injunctions against the SDF's Iraq missions, the Nagoya High Court ruled that the airlifting mission by the SDF was in violation of the Constitution as well as the Special Measures Law for Assistance to the Reconstruction of Iraq. This ruling was effective in compelling the ASDF to withdraw from Iraq. At the news of this ruling, former Chief of Joint Staff Gen. Tamogami Toshio said, "That has nothing to do with us." The government has maintained the same attitude of disregarding the high court ruling in rejecting the call for a withdrawal of SDF troops from Iraq.
Withdraw troops from the Indian Ocean as well
While bringing the ASDF home from Iraq, the Japanese government is attempting to increase its assistance to the war of retaliation against Afghanistan. It is trying to get the bill to extend the law to support the anti-terrorism war. If Japan takes this path of expanding support for the war, it will obviously pave the way for Japan to contribute more money to the US war as well as dispatch a helicopter unit to Afghanistan in response to the US demand.
It is important for Japan not only to bring the ASDF home from Iraq but also to do its utmost to achieve a political and peaceful resolution of the conflict instead of extending support to war.
