SDF dispatch plan needs

自衛隊イラク派遣の見直しを

The dispatch plan is based on special legislation calling for assistance in the rebuilding of Iraq. The law says, in effect, that members of the Self-Defense Forces will operate only in non-combat areas. This assumption seems increasingly unrealistic.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda acknowledged as much Nov. 13, saying conditions in Iraq are not right for the SDF to engage in its planned activities. The day before, he had said the government's intention of sending troops by the year's end remained unchanged. A wholesale review of the plan is unavoidable.

The blast in Nasiriyah is comparable, in terms of military casualties, to the downing of a U.S. Chinook helicopter earlier this month, near Fallujah, that killed 16 soldiers. It is one of the bloodiest single attacks since May, when U.S. President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat operations. In August, a suicide bomber attacked the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, killing 22 people, including a top U.N. official.

The Nasiriyah incident, following a fatal roadside bomb explosion in Basra, has all but destroyed the notion that southern Iraq is much safer than the outskirts of Baghdad and northern Iraq. That is a blow to the SDF dispatch plan, which calls for deployment in Samawa, 100 km from Nasiriyah.

The Iraq legislation, which passed the Diet in July, is the latest in a series of moves to update Japan's security policy. The PKO cooperation law, enacted in 1992, opened the way for SDF participation in U.N peacekeeping operations in Cambodia and elsewhere in the world. The law attaches a key condition to such a mission: the existence of a cease-fire agreement between warring parties.

The 2001 anti-terrorism law, established in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks went further: For the first time Japan deployed the SDF in an area close to a combat zone — the Indian Ocean. The main mission was to supply fuel to U.S. and allied ships in support of the military campaign against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

By contrast, the Iraq law paves the way for direct deployment in a foreign country. The problem is that fighting continues there, preventing a full-fledged international peacekeeping operation. A troop dispatch in such circumstances could find SDF members in the line of fire, compelling them to use force in self-defense. Such a development would put in doubt a constitutional clause that places severe limits on the use of force abroad.

The law's assumption that SDF activities will be confined to non-combat areas reflects, of course, these constitutional constraints. However, that assumption has been challenged even by members of the governing coalition. The mounting security risks in Iraq make it clear that limiting deployment to non-combat areas is unrealistic.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has described the Nov. 9 general election, in which the governing coalition retained a comfortable majority, as a vote of confidence in his plan to send troops to Iraq. However, the statement needs to be taken with reservations, for his Liberal-Democratic Party never mentioned the plan in its policy manifesto.

Moreover, the prime minister needs to take into account the impressive electoral gains made by the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, which is opposed to sending troops under existing legislation. Opinion polls indicate that a majority of the Japanese public is either critical or skeptical of the dispatch plan.

The Iraq legislation allows, but does not require, the government to dispatch military units to the country. This means there can be other options, such as contributing to peace and reconstruction in ways short of direct deployment. The three-day special Diet session that opened Nov. 19 can be extended to discuss how Japan can best contribute.

The Japan Times Weekly
Nov. 22, 2003
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      イラク復興支援特別措置法は、自衛隊の派遣先について事実上「戦闘行為が行われていない地域」と限定しているが、この前提条件は非現実的になっている。福田官房長官は13日の記者会見で、今は自衛隊派遣の条件が整っていないと述べた。政府はイラク問題への対応について根本から再検討すべきだ。

      ナシリアの事件は、ブッシュ米大統領が5月に大規模戦闘の終結を宣言して以来、最悪の事態となった。ナシリアは自衛隊が派兵を計画しているイラク南部のサマワから100キロしか離れていない。

      イラク特措法は、同国への直接派兵を可能にする。しかし、イラクでは戦闘が続いており、全面的平和維持活動を不可能にしている。現在の状況で派兵すれば、自衛隊が戦闘に巻き込まれて自衛のため応戦する状況も考えられる。そうなると海外での武力の行使を厳しく制限している憲法第9条の問題が起きる。

      小泉首相は、与党3党が絶対安定多数を確保した総選挙の結果は、政府のイラク派兵計画に対する国民の信任を示しているという。しかし、計画は自民党の「マニフェスト」には挙げられていない。

      首相は、現行法制の下で派兵に反対している民主党が大幅に議席を増やしたことを忘れてはならない。世論調査では、大多数の回答者はイラク派兵に批判的、懐疑的な立場を取っている。

      イラク特措法はイラク派兵を可能にしているが、求めてはいない。派兵以外に、平和維持、復興援助などの選択肢があるはずだ。19日に開会した特別国会は、この問題を論議するために延長すべきだ。