Hostage release no peace gesture

イラク人質事件

The three Japanese were kidnapped as they traveled from Amman, Jordan, to Baghdad. They are Mr. Noriaki Imai, a high-school graduate who allegedly was going to research the effects of depleted uranium weapons, Mr. Soichiro Koriyama, a free-lance photojournalist, and Ms. Nahoko Takato, an aid worker. The kidnappers demanded the withdrawal of Self-Defense Forces from Iraq in exchange for the hostages' lives. The government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi refused.

The government began efforts to free the hostages, and within days there were reports that they would be released unharmed. The chaotic situation in Iraq made accurate information hard to come by, and initial hopes for a quick release were dashed. Negotiations apparently continued, and they bore fruit when the three were handed over to a Sunni organization that mediated between the kidnappers and various governments.

The relief quickly gave way to dismay as it was reported that two more Japanese civilians were reported missing and presumed kidnapped. Even more worrisome was the release of a video documenting the murder of an Italian security guard and threats to kill three other Italian hostages. Rome has been offered the same choice as Tokyo and its response has been the same: The nearly 3,000 Italian troops in Iraq will stay.

In fact, that offer has been extended to all European governments. In a newly released audiotape, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden allegedly offered a truce in exchange for the withdrawal of troops from Muslim nations such as Iraq and Afghanistan. All have refused.

The terrorists are trying to drive a wedge between the United States and its allies. Bin Laden pointedly noted that peace with the United States was impossible while offering its allies a deal. As we have maintained, no such deal is possible. If the terrorists kept their word, any truce would prove temporary, lasting only until the next time that they felt aggrieved and developed a new set of demands.

The focus on "soft targets" shows their contempt for civilized behavior; the people being taken hostage are working to help Iraqi people. Moreover, the readiness of the kidnappers to take hostages from all countries, including China, Russia and France — which have shown little if any support for the U.S.-led operations — is proof that these people are criminal opportunists. There is no link between joining the U.S. coalition and becoming a terrorist target.

The many acts of hostage-taking have underscored the breakdown of order in Iraq. Kidnapping is an act of weakness, as is terrorism in general. It is a desperate attempt to exploit the weaknesses of an adversary against which there are no conventional military options.

In Iraq, the fight against the coalition forces is occurring against the backdrop of power struggles within the country — among Sunnis and Shiites, and within the Shiite sect, as Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and his rival Mr. Muqtada al-Sadr fight for power. Those rivalries influence the thinking of the kidnappers and efforts to free the hostages must take them into account. Exploiting those fissures is critical to beating the Iraqi resistance forces.

The hostage taking is deplorable. But the proper focus of our anger is not the governments that put those individuals in harm's way. (Many foreign nationals are in Iraq by their choice; Tokyo had nothing to do with the presence in Iraq of those Japanese who were kidnapped.) Japan has joined the U.S.-led coalition because it desires to help rebuild and reconstruct a shattered nation. Those goals are noble, those intentions good. To defer them in the face of terrorist opposition is immoral and wrong.

The Japan Times Weekly
April 24, 2004
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      日本人3人はヨルダンのアンマンからイラクの首都バグダッドへ向かう途中で拘束された。武装勢力は人質の解放と引き換えに、自衛隊のイラクからの撤退を要求したが、小泉政権はそれを拒否した。

      すぐに解放されるとの当初の報道に反して、3人はなかなか解放されなかったが、イスラム教スンニ派の組織による仲介で、ようやく束縛を解かれた。

      その安堵もつかの間、今度は日本人男性2人が人質に取られた（が後に解放）。武装勢力はイタリア人4人の人質のうち1人を殺害、イタリア軍がイラクから撤退しなければ残り3人も殺害すると脅しているが、イタリア政府は、撤退要求を拒否した。

      アルカイダの指導者、オサマ・ビンラディンは欧州諸国に対し、イラク、アフガニスタンなどのイスラム国家から軍を撤退させ、休戦に合意するよう呼びかけたが、欧州諸国は要求をすべて拒否した。ビンラディンは欧州諸国との和平を求めながら、米国との和平は不可能であるとしている。

      武装勢力は米国主導のイラク戦争を支持していない中国、ロシア、フランスなどの国民も人質にしていることから、日和見的な犯罪者であることがわかる。

     イラクでは秩序が完全に崩壊している。連合軍との戦争は、イスラム教スンニ派とシーア派内の権力闘争、特にシーア派最高指導者シスタニ師とライバルのサドル師との間の争いを背景に起きている。これらの分裂を利用することが、イラクの反乱分子を鎮圧するのに重要だ。

      日本は戦争で破壊されたイラクを復興するため、米国主導の連合国に加わり、崇高な目標と善意をもって活動を行っている。テロに屈して、復興事業を遅らせることは道徳に反し間違っている。