“Self-Defense Forces to Be Equipped with Light Rifles when Sent to Iraq”

By holding the Security Council and the emergency Cabinet Council continuously on June 13, the Japanese government has submitted a ‘Special Bill for the Reconstruction Support of Iraq’ to the Diet in order to send its Self-Defense Forces to Iraq.

This bill prescribed the length of the Self-Defense Forces stay in Iraq to as long as 4 years and also regulated the transport supply activities and reconstruction support to the Alliance of the United States and Great Britain as duties of the Self-Defense Forces.

At first, the Japanese government included the disposal of WMD (weapons of mass destruction) as a duty of the Self-Defense Forces but this article was deleted when the Liberal Democratic Party presented their viewpoint: “It is not right to appoint the responsibilities of the SDF based on the yet to be proven existence of WMD.”

The Japanese allied parties in control are planning to send SDF to Iraq by the middle of August at the earliest by approving Iraq-related bills even if it the session has to be extended. The session is slated to end on the 18th day of June.

However, since the primary opposition party, the Democratic Party and the others are resisting the bill by stating, “There is too much risk involved in sending the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq when the public order is not stable to the point of being able to distinguish a battlefield from a non-battlefield,” thus it still remains unclear whether the bill will pass the Diet as it is within the remaining period of the session.

In relation to this, the Mainichi Newspaper reported on June 13 that the Japanese Defense Office is planning to lighten the standard of weapons usage by requiring the SDF to carry light arms such as recoilless rifles.

Since there hasn`t been any case in history where the SDF used cannons or heavy weapons in foreign countries, it seems like there will be debate over the discussion process in the Diet regarding the duties of weapons and ammunition delivery, which are in reality military activities.

The Defense Office argues that a weapons usage standard must conform to the international standard in order to insure the security of the SDF since American troops in Iraq are still seeing fighting. The SDF were allowed to carry machine guns for defensive purposes when sent to Rwanda in 1994 but it surely is the first time to receive approval to use heavy weapons such as cannons in foreign countries.

On the other hand, the emergency legislative law, which makes clear confrontational strategies and a levy on civil resources in case of the SDF being attacked by a foreign country, will be enforced officially starting June 13 after passing through the Senate on June 6.

The Emergency Legislative System is composed of three statutes: Confrontational Strategies in the wake of a sudden military attack, the Self-Defense Forces Law and the Security Council Set-up Law. Japan has finally equipped itself with statutes to prepare for a ‘wartime situation’ in the 58 years since World War II.

The Japanese government is planning to consolidate the following laws consecutively hereafter: Citizen Protection Law, U.S. Army Support Law and Harmonizing Law of Self-Defense Forces Activities.

parkwj@donga.com