The Japanese Self-Defense Forces in Iraq 



Under the present situation in Iraq, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces cannot escape becoming the target of terroist attacks. Although Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has stressed on many occasions that they are not sent there to fight, but to help the Iraqi people, they will surely be forced into a very difficult position. It is probable that they will fight back when attacked.
Under Article 9 of the Japanese constitution, our country has renounced war and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. If the Self-Defence Forces are forced to use weapons, whether they be small firearms, even to defend themselves, I believe they will be viotating the Constitution. To begin with, I don't understand why the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, which was originally intended to defend our country, should be stationed abroad. Zenmaro Doki, a tanka poet who used to be in favor of the war during World War II, was surprised when he found at the end of the war, that his wife had had her own understanding and opinion about the war, so different from his own. His tanka is as follows.
'Old wife asked me sadly if I had really believed that the country will win'
Shunsuke Tsurumi, a philosopher and one of the leading pacifsts in Japan, regards the quiet attitude on the part of Doki's wife as the strong root of peace movement. Tsurumi's writing goes on like this. It may be true that many people lost their energy to eat that night when Japan lost the war. But how many women, mothers and wives, forgot to prepare meals for the family? Their everyday lives went on, just the same as the other ordinary days. Tsurumi adds, ' theory alone cannot keep on supporting any antiwar attitude for a long period of time, because it is not rooted in everyday life.'  

Posted: 土 - 11月 8, 2003 at 05:50 午後          

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