http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200510060119.html
EDITORIAL/Anti-terrorism law 10/06/2005 Nearly four years have passed since the Maritime Self-Defense Force was dispatched to the Indian Ocean to provide rear-echelon support for the war against terror. The dispatch overseas of SDF personnel to support a military campaign required enactment of the anti-terrorism special measures law. This was unprecedented and due to the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in response to the 9/11 attacks. The law is due to expire in November, but the government decided to extend it by another year and presented a bill for that purpose to the Diet. It was originally envisaged that the law would have a two-year duration. The law has already been extended once before, for two years. Now it is being extended again. This time, however, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi decided to limit the extension to one year. In doing so, he overruled the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Agency, which both sought a two- year extension. We are not surprised at Koizumi's caution. The fighting has ceased in Afghanistan. The country has an elected president and parliamentary elections were held last month. The nation is on its way to reconstruction, at least after a fashion, and these developments certainly warrant a close re-examination of how Japan should help Afghanistan. Is the MSDF presence in the Indian Ocean really necessary? If it is effective, how so? How long should this continue? Is this the best form of cooperation for Japan to offer? The Diet must address these questions when it starts deliberations on the government bill. Along with U.S. military strikes against Taliban, the allied nations now have warships in the Indian Ocean to intercept the movements of terrorists and shipments of weapons. The role of the MSDF is to supply fuel and water to the U.S., British, French and other vessels participating in this campaign. According to the Defense Agency, the MSDF has so far supplied 410,000 kiloliters of fuel worth about 16 billion yen. But after peaking at 40,000 kiloliters in March 2002, the monthly fuel supply declined steadily, and the volume this past summer was down to a mere one-fortieth of the March 2002 level. As for the allied naval campaign, the results so far seem to have been limited mainly to arresting traffickers in drugs and contraband arms. Unlike the Iraq war that has seriously divided the international community, the allies all fell into step in the Afghanistan campaign. Germany and France maintain ground troops there for postwar peace- building. MSDF vessels were dispatched as part of this international cooperation effort. As they have completed their primary mission, it is obviously time to consider bringing them home. Some argue that the MSDF's presence in the Indian Ocean is "proof of Japan's cooperation with the United States." In fact, though, the fuel supply mission has imposed hardships on the crew members. Given the declining significance of the refueling operations, we cannot see how this mission contributes to Afghanistan's postwar stability. We should keep an open mind and look broadly at what Japan can do to prevent Afghanistan from reverting to Taliban rule-such as by helping the nation in its effort to maintain civic stability and recover weapons. The Japanese government will earn the respect of the international community only if its contributions prove effective and practical, in which case the Japanese public will surely support the government's policy. The crucial question now is exactly how Japan means to contribute to the greater cause of eliminating terror. Including the matter of whether to keep Ground Self-Defense Force troops in Iraq, we need to keep our focus on the basic and overall question of how Japan should contribute to peace and stability in the region. --The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 5(IHT/Asahi: October 6,2005) ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Fair play? Video games influencing politics. Click and talk back! http://us.click.yahoo.com/VpgUKB/pzNLAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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