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最初の血が流れる
イラクに派遣された自衛隊員が 「テロリスト」を殺しても罪に問われなければ 「交戦権」の復活という可能性が出てくる。
そして日本は「平和憲法」を捨てるのだろうか?
First blood coming?
You can learn a lot from a taxi driver.
This driver was talking about what he heard from a passenger, a Self-Defense Force trooper coming home from a New Year's party. One of the older party members, emboldened by alcohol, had made a speech: "Here in Japan, if you kill somebody, you can get arrested for murder. So we use live ammunition only in practice. But it's not like that in Iraq. When you shoot people there, it's not murder. So you men leaving for Iraq, go for it!"
Sure, drunk people say all sorts of things. But then there was that little article on Page 34 of the Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 23, announcing that the Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association and the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan had agreed not to do any "dangerous" reporting in Iraq.
What is "dangerous" reporting? The article gives two examples: chasing after SDF vehicles and standing around outside SDF bases.
Why is that dangerous? Because such reporters "could be mistaken for terrorists, and shot."
There it is. If the information in this article is correct, it means that the SDF troops are prepared to shoot people they judge to be "terrorists." Reading between the lines, we can understand that the SDF made it clear to the newspeople: "And if you're not careful, we might shoot you too."
There are (at least) two problems with this. First, the article doesn't say "a person about to carry out a terrorist act." It just says, "a terrorist." As this word is used by the U.S. government, and apparently now in Japan as well, "terrorist" means a type of human being who might someday in the span of his or her life commit a terrorist act. So the way to eliminate terrorism is to kill all of this type of people.
But think. A country is invaded and occupied. The occupying military brings in military units from other countries to aid in the occupation. People continue to fight the occupiers. Are they "terrorists"? In World War II, when the Nazis occupied France and established a puppet government, people continued to fight back. Of course, they didn't wear uniforms; to do so would have been suicide in an occupied country. We didn't call them terrorists but rather fighters in the Resistance. What is the difference?
Second, if the SDF troops do follow the drunken advice of their senior member and start shooting people who look to them like "terrorists," and if the government lets them get away with it, that moment will signal a momentous change in the constitutional basis of the Japanese state. It will be the revival of that special right of the state to kill, known as the Right of Belligerency.
Are you ready for that?
To help people think about this, I have recently published a book, "Are You Really Going to Junk Your Peace Constitution?" (Heibonsha, November 2003). If you want to read it you'll probably have to order it; the bookstores don't seem to want to put it on their shelves. (That's not because people don't want to read it. Here in Okinawa, I have already personally sold 300 copies.) But whether you use this book or not, I strongly recommend that you think about this question one more time. This may be your last chance.
Shukan ST: Feb. 13, 2004
(C) All rights reserved
- First blood
- (ボクシングの試合などで)最初の出血
- Self-Defense Force trooper
- 自衛隊員
- emboldened by 〜
- 〜の勢いで
- get arrested for 〜
- 〜で逮捕される
- live ammunition
- 実弾
- practice
- 演習
- go for it!
- やってみろ!
- But then
- しかし一方で
- article
- 記事
- Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association
- 日本新聞協会
- National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan
- 日本民間放送連盟
- "dengerous" reporting
- 「危険な取材」
- chasing after SDF vehicles
- 自衛隊の車両を追いかけること
- standing around outside SDF bases
- 宿営地前で張り込むこと
- be mistaken for 〜
- 〜と誤認される
- (be)shot
- 狙撃される
- There it is
- さあ、そこだ
- Reading between the lines
- 行間を読めば
- made it clear to the newspeople: 〜
- 報道陣に対して〜ということを明確にした
- person about to 〜
- 〜しようとしている者
- carry out
- 実行する
- terrorist act
- テロ行為
- in the span of his or her life
- 一生の間に
- eliminate
- 撲滅する
- occupying military
- 占領軍
- military unit
- 部隊
- occupiers
- 占領軍
- Nazis
- ナチス
- puppet government
- かいらい政権
- suicide
- 自殺行為
- fighters
- 闘士
- Resistance
- 抵抗運動
- do follow 〜
- 実際に〜に従う
- get away with it
- 厳しい処罰を免れる
- signal
- 示す
- momentous
- 重大な
- constitutional basis
- 憲法上の根拠
- Japanese state
- 日本という国
- revival
- 復活
- right of the state to kill
- 国家が殺人を犯す権利
- Right of Belligerency
- 交戦権
- "Are You Really Going To Junk Your Peace Constitution?"
- 『日本は、本当に平和憲法を捨てるのですか?』(平凡社刊)
- put it on their shelves
- 店に並べる