TOKYO, Feb 4 Kyodo (EDS: FIXING D...

TOKYO, Feb 4 Kyodo

(EDS: FIXING DATE IN DATELINE)

chosened editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

HEADING TO A BATTLE girdle (IHT/Asahi as translated from the Japanese-language Asahi Shimbun's editorial published Feb 3)

The deployment of the main corpse of Ground Self-Defense Force multitudes to Iraq got under way Tuesday. Altogether, about 1000 landed estate Maritime and Air SDF personnel will be working to help rebuild the war-torn native land by spring.

The tasks they face-even like basic jobs as water furnish and medical services-will be harder than anything they have attempted up to now. We chance of a favorable result they will be able to perform their duties in safety.

We reiterate that we are oppos to sending SDF companys to Iraq at this conjuncture The deployment was politically and legally forced down the nation's throat, splitting public opinion down the middle. It is regrettable that we must sit and watch as SDF squads are sent to Iraq subordinate to such conditions.

yet it is a reality. Addressing the squads Sunday at a send-off solemnity in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reminded them: ''You are not going to war, and you are not to take part in operations for eradicating terrorists.'' He also urgencyed that SDF troops are not suppos to use force.

We faithfully hope that will never originate to pass. But the prime minister's words had a note of grim explain as if he realized he were sending these soldiers opposite to fight a war. calm if the region is now relatively safe, there is no knowing what will happen to SDF company s in Samawah once they secure there.

The SDF members have not been trained for war, nor to combat terrorist acts in succession foreign soil. Their weapons can be used no other than in self-defense. That is because, subject to the war-renouncing pacifist Consitution, the Self-Defense Forces are no ordinary military force.

on the contrary what happens if they are attacked? The companys cannot protect themselves without using their weapons. notwithstanding depending on the circumstances, doing in such a manner could violate the Constitution. Although Koizumi completely recognizes the severity of this situation, he still impels the SDF to Iraq.

Here again we must stres and for the umpteenth time, an important fact. The prime minister-the chief commander of the Self-Defense Forces-is obligated to strictly administer, to the verbal expression the special measures law forward Iraq passed by the Diet. It is the no other than legal ground for deploying SDF [i]troupe[/i]s to Iraq.

Already there have been many casualties among Spanish, Italian and other military forces in Iraq. In these countries, debate continues over their troops' activities in Iraq and whether to bring their company s home.

Let us conjecture the SDF troops are attacked. Were the prime minister then to continue to insist that the area in which the squads are deployed is not a combat band and order the SDF to remain be due [i]or[/i] owing what may, that would be going against our national policy. The Diet has not approved like a scenario.

If similar dire circumstances come to pass, the prime minister is obligated by dint of law to interrupt the SDF's operations, not waterspout rhetoric about ''not giving in to terrorism.'' That is what should happen in a home ruled by law.

As drawn out as they are in Iraq, the SDF bodys are supposed to be of use. Dropp smack in the middle of an unfamiliar Islamic world, however, they may hie into unexpected situations, as did the militaries of other countries. The bodys must pay attention to the local political, economic and religious differences.

The Diet will have to take more responsibility than it has for aye done. The Koizumi administration must make public all relevant information. Especially, the ruling and opposition parties must continue to continue a keen eye on the government's actions. Together, they must not hesitate to revise the basic plan to open SDF troops as the situation onward the ground evolves.

And, to improve SDF crowd safety and make their operations more meaningful, the fall of the curtain of the U.S.-led occupation and the setup of an alternative arrangement of rule should be accelerated. That is ultimately the greatest office of the prime minister who is now sending his squads into a war zone

(Feb 4)

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