[Marxism] Save the Hostages -- Japan out of Iraq!

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

The so-called "Mujahideen Brigades" kidnapped three young Japanese
civilians in Iraq: Nahoko Takato, 34; Noriaki Imai, 18; and Soichiro
Koriyama, 32.  See a photograph of the Japanese hostages at
<http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2004/04/09/main_hostage.jpg>.  Unless
the Japanese government withdraws its troops from Iraq, the
"Mujahideen Brigades" say that they will burn the Japanese hostages
alive.  "The precise deadline set by the kidnappers was not clear,
but a Japanese ruling coalition official put it at around 9:00 p.m.
(0800 EDT) on Sunday" ("Japan Minister to Appeal for Iraq Hostage
Release," April 10, 2004,
<http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4796161&pageNumber=1>).
The hostages' families have tearfully appealed to the Japanese
government to withdraw the Japanese troops and save the lives of the
innocents, and peace activists have held vigils, demonstrations, and
cyber actions <http://peaceact.jca.apc.org> to support the families'
appeal, but the government has so far coldly turned down their pleas.

Call on the Japanese Government to Withdraw Its Troops from Iraq!

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
Phone: +81-(0)3-3508-7327
Phone (House of Representatives): +81-(0)3-3581-5111
Phone (Official Residence): +81-(0)3-3581-0101
Fax: +81-(0)3-3502-5666
Fax (Official Residence): +81-(0)3-3581-3883
Email: <koizumi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Web (in English): <http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/forms/comment.html>
Web(in Japanese): <http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/forms/goiken.html>

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda
Email: <g03872@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Phone: +81-(0)3-3508-7181
Phone (House of Representatives): +81-(0)3-3581-5111
Fax: +81-(0)3-3508-3611

Defense Agency Secretary General Shigeru Ishiba
Phone: +81-(0)3-3508-7525
Phone (House of Representatives): +81-(0)3-3581-5111
Fax: +81-(0)3-3502-5174
Email: <g00505@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Email: <info-iraq@xxxxxxxxx> and <info@xxxxxxxxx>

Foreign Minister Junko Kawaguchi
Phone (Ministry of Foreign Affairs): +81-(0)3-3580-3311
Email: <goiken@xxxxxxxxxx>

Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (Koizumi's party)
Phone: +81-(0)3-3581-6211
Web: <http://www.jimin.jp/jimin/main/mono.html>

*****   Save my son's life, pleads teen hostage's mother
April 9, 2004

"Japanese civilian detainees are seen at an undisclosed location in
this image made from video released on Thursday. Photo: AP":
<http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2004/04/09/main_hostage.jpg>

Families of three Japanese nationals taken hostage in Iraq today
urged the government to withdraw troops from the Middle Eastern
country as demanded by the kidnappers.

The Arab satellite television station Al-Jazeera yesterday aired a
video of two Japanese men and a woman, with and without blindfolds,
surrounded by heavily armed men.

The Qatar-based television station said an accompanying statement by
a group calling itself the "Mujahideen Brigades" gave Tokyo three
days to pull its 550 troops from Iraq or the hostages would be "burnt
alive".

Close-up shots of the passports revealed pictures, names and other
details of the three, identified as Noriaki Imai, 18, a volunteer
worker, Nahoko Takato, 34, a female volunteer, and Soichiro Koriyama,
a 32-year-old photographer.

"I want to ask (the prime minister's office and foreign ministry) to
save my son's live," Naoko Imai, 51-year-old mother of the kidnapped
teenager said in tears today.

She made the comment as she headed to Tokyo from the northern
Japanese island of Hokkaido to meet government officials. . . .

AFP

<http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/09/1081326909162.html>   *****

*****   09 Apr 2004 01:16
Japan PM in a tight spot following Iraq
By George Nishiyama

TOKYO (Reuters) - Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi faced his worst
political nightmare on Friday as the kidnapping of three Japanese
civilians in Iraq fanned calls for him to pull Japan's non-combat
troops from the increasingly violent country.

A previously unknown Iraqi group released a video of the hostages on
Thursday and vowed to "burn them alive" if Japanese troops did not
leave Iraq within three days.

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, who begins as Asian tour in Tokyo on
Saturday, will urge America's allies in the region not to cave in.

Cheney's message, according to a senior administration official, will
be: "It's very important to stay on course."

Japan's top government spokesman said late on Thursday that Tokyo had
no plan to withdraw from the southern Iraqi city of Samawa, where
some 550 troops are on a non-combat mission.

"Our Self-Defence Forces (military) are carrying out humanitarian and
reconstruction assistance for the Iraqi people. So there is no reason
for pulling out," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told a news
conference.

Opposition parties were quick to put the blame for the kidnapping on
Koizumi and urge an end to Japan's riskiest military mission since
World War Two.

"This was something that was bound to happen as a result of a
mistaken SDF dispatch," Seiji Mataichi, secretary-general of the
Social Democrats, was quoted as saying by Kyodo news agency.

"The SDF ought to pull out," he added.

The deployment of troops to Iraq has sharply divided public opinion.
Critics also say it violates Japan's pacifist constitution and resent
a decision they say was made under pressure from the United States.

"I think it's a very difficult decision, but I don't think they
should pull out the troops," said Mieko Sakai, 43, who runs a
temporary workers agency.

"The question is, then, how to protect lives."

Others said it was time to withdraw.

"I think they should leave," said a 29-year-old employee of a medical
equipment company. "It's a choice between human lives and sticking to
the government policy. If they are going to leave the troops there, I
think the prime minister should resign."

HIGH ALERT

No Japanese soldier has been killed in combat since 1945, and
casualties could affect support for Koizumi's government, whose
ruling coalition faces parliamentary elections in July.

Media commentary mirrored the split in public opinion.

"We cannot give in to despicable threats," said conservative Yomiuri
Shimbun daily.

The liberal Asahi Shimbun, however, said: "We want the government to
firmly recognise that conditions under which the SDF can undertake
its humanitarian mission are vanishing."

The footage of the three civilians, one a woman, blindfolded and
being held by masked gunmen, follows news that three explosions were
heard near Japan's military camp in Samawa late on Wednesday, raising
concerns that Japan is now a target.

The kidnapped were aid worker Nahoko Takato, 34; Noriaki Imai, 18,
who had been planning a trip to Iraq to do field work on the possible
effects of depleted uranium weapons, and freelance cameraman Soichiro
Koriyama, 32.

Families of the kidnapped urged the government to withdraw the troops
from Iraq.

"My son has been against the dispatch of the SDF," Naoko Imai, 51,
mother of Noriaki, told reporters. "Perhaps I shouldn't say this, but
I want the SDF to retreat."

A sister of Takato said the troops should withdraw at least
temporarily to meet the captors' demand.

"I don't think they will come back unharmed if the demand is not
met," she said.

(Additional reporting by Elaine Lies, Masayuki Kitano)

<http://www.reuters.com/locales/newsArticle.jsp?type=worldNews&locale=en_IN&storyID=4791276>
*****
--
Yoshie

* Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/>
* Calendars of Events in Columbus:
<http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>,
<http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/>
* Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/>
* Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/>
* Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio>
* Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>

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