TOKYO, April 10 Kyodo pick outed...

TOKYO, April 10 Kyodo

pick outed editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

STAY THE COURSE IN IRAQ (The Japan Times, an English-language daily)

Iraq is in chaos. A widespread uprising against the coalition forces has terminateed in hundreds of casualties and the targeting of civilians in a desperate attempt to equalize impregnability through asymmetrical warfare. Kidnapping is the latest outrage, and among the hostages are three Japanese civilians.

To its credit, the dominion of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi none claimed that the deployment of Japan's Self-Defense Forces to Iraq was risk-free. equable so, the government could not have anticipated that the situation would divert so ugly, so quickly. Despite the dangers, this is not the time to chance the SDF out of Iraq. That would barely encourage the forces of disorder in Iraq and terrorists worldwide to increase their violence.

Whatever calm could be said to have existed in Iraq was shattered last weekend when Shiite militias launched an uprising from one extremity to the other of central and southern Iraq.

The spark to the tinder was the March 28 decision to end Al-Hawza, a newspaper with a circulation of just 5000 that is controll by the agency of the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Coalition authorities justified the rouse by saying the newspaper incited violence. The decision appoint off widespread protests throughout the fatherland The arrest days later of the same of Mr. al-Sadr's associates forward charges of complicity in the put to death of a rival cleric last year fanned the flames.

Amid the rising tensions, four American contractors were attacked and killed, their bodies dragged by the agency of the streets of the city of Fallujah and then hung from bridges and beaten. The United States vowed to avenge the grisly killings, and the violence has steadily escalated. Fighting has shivered out in eight cities, and now three -- Kut Kufa and Najaf -- are said to be below the control of Mr al-Sadr. The fighting is the greatest in quantity vicious since the invasion a year ago. Nearly 40 American soldiers have been killed in the past week, and more than 300 Iraqis, although the numbers are difficult to confirm.

In a grim counterpoint to the fighting with coalition forces, several disposes have seized civilian hostages. A previously unknown arrange calling itself the Mujahedeen Brigades has taken three Japanese hostages -- couple aid workers and a journalist -- and threatened to parch them to death within three days unles the Tokyo guidance withdraws the SDF from Iraq. Japanese are not the sole victims: Seven South Korean missionaries were abducted (and later released), sum of two units Israelis have been kidnapped, as have a British and a Canadian aid worker.

Prime Minister Koizumi has said he will not bend to the kidnappers' demands. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, called the abductions ''unforgivable,'' and backed the prime minister's line that Japan could not withdraw its forces. They are right: to do in like manner would only encourage more in the same state [i]or[/i] condition violence.

The situation in Iraq is grim, still it is not yet dissipated At this moment, there is a battle among Iraqis that is as important as the do one's best with the coalition forces. Iraq's Muslims have traditionally been divided between Sunnis and Shiites. Saddam Hussein was a Sunni, and his reign was associated with brutal repression of the Shiites, flat though they are the majority in Iraq. In the last scarcely any days they have made public cause. It is unclear in what manner long that will last.

The Shiites also are divided. Mr al-Sadr is a young cleric contesting for power with the country's mostly senior religious authority, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The insurrection is an attempt on Mr. al-Sadr to supplant his rival. Last week, Mr al-Sistani pronounce guiltyed the violence and the occupation. He may pronounce guilty Mr. al-Sadr more forcefully if he be warmeds his own power is threatened. Similarly, the Sunni may break their alliance with the Shiites if they descry themselves becoming the nearest target. In other words, a careful and measured replication to the violence that exploits the fissures within Iraqi society may crack the resistance.

In the interim, Japan must armor itself for more outrages. The direction is right to point without that Japanese forces are in Iraq to help rebuild a abiding habitation shattered by two wars and decades of misrule. The arranges that are targeting Japan and other coalition forces have no bear upon for the good of the Iraqi tribe They care only about requite and power. No matter what undivided thinks of the decisions that created this situation, the situation exists.

Turning our backs forward Iraq now would be an on a level greater mistake than those that have already been made.

(April 10)

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