U.S. Fears Terrorism Against Allied Nations

With civilians, diplomats, and military personnel from Korea, Japan and Spain respectively being attacked by Iraqi insurgents, resulting in a deadly rampage over two consecutive days, November 29 and 30, the U.S. administration is anxious about any unexpected fiasco in the plan for troop dispatch and support from the allied countries.

U.S. State Department, announced a statement of condolence – With the political vacuum occurring due to the thanksgiving holiday, the U.S. administration has been restrained from giving its official reactions, with the exception of an expressing of sorrow at the tragedies in Iraq.

Just after the incident where Korean civilians in Iraq were killed, the spokesperson of the U.S. State Department said, “The U.S. government expresses the deepest regret over the death of the two Koreans in Iraq. We sincerely appreciate Korea’s enthusiasm and eagerness in following through with the reconnaissance plan in Iraq.”

In advance of this announcement, the U.S. president, George W. Bush, called Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Maria Aznar, to pass on his regrets. Collin Powell, the U.S. Secretary of State telephoned Japanese foreign minister, Kawaguchi Yoriko, saying that they would carry out all possible support to Japanese residing in Iraq.

“The terrorists are targeting the allied country’s people in order to discourage the countries from participating in the reconnaissance project,” remarked the spokesperson of Paul Bremmer, the chief administrative official in Iraq, adding, “But the more they do, the stronger the will of the allied countries to continue working in the reconnaissance project will become.”

Perplexed Spain and Japan – The two countries made it clear that they would not be intimidated by the threats of the terrorists, but the opposition parties and public opinion stirred up objections or skepticism on the troop dispatch plan.

The Japanese foreign ministry held an urgent conference Monday in order to check on the safety status in Iraq. However, the opposition parties such as the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), Japanese Communist Party (JCP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP), even including some members of the leading party, Liberty Democratic Party (LDP), asserted objection on the troop dispatch plan together in same voice, requiring the temporary convocation of the congress to discuss the plan.

On November 30, the Spanish Prime Minister Aznar said, “Withdrawal of our troops from Iraq is the worst thing to expect. We will do what we should do faithfully and prudently.”

But, even the Spanish leading daily, El Mundo, which has backed up the policies of Aznar so far, in its editorial section asserted, “We have to consider the real purpose of our troops in Iraq and whether their devotion is helpful to the democratization of Iraq.”

maypole@donga.com