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

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

Johannes Schneider:
> From Al-Jazeera:
>
> Iraqi group to free Japanese hostages
> Saturday 10 April 2004, 22:22 Makka Time, 19:22 GMT
> An Iraqi group which said it kidnapped three Japanese hostages has
> said it  will release them within 24 hours, abandoning a threat to
> kill them. In a fax sent to Aljazeera on Saturday, the group, Saraya
> al-Mujahidin said  they will release the hostages in response to a
> call from Iraq's Muslim  Clerics Association. The group also called
> on the Japanese people to pressure their government  to withdraw its
> troops from Iraq. Full:
> http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/75D2F232-7F1B-4909-9F9E-B8C41B0E93D0.htm

The Japanese hostages have yet to be released, and they are facing
new death threats, thanks to the hard-hearted bonehead Junichiro
Koizumi.

Dick Cheney is now visiting Japan, which must appear to the captors
to be the greatest timing to drive home a political message:

*****   No Word on Japan's Iraq Hostages, Families Worry
Sun Apr 11, 2004 11:56 AM ET

By Masayuki Kitano and Midoriko Morita

TOKYO (Reuters) - The fate of three Japanese civilians kidnapped in
Iraq remained unclear on Sunday, extending the agony of their
families and a crisis for the Tokyo government after earlier reports
the hostages would be freed.

A Japanese official said he could not confirm a new report by Arabic
TV station Al Jazeera that the militants holding the three would
begin killing them unless their demands -- including that Japan's
troops quit Iraq -- were met within 24 hours.

"We are looking into the report," he told Reuters.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, facing his toughest political test,
has vowed not to withdraw the nearly 550 ground troops from southern
Iraq, despite the threats. Relatives of the hostages and
demonstrators, however, urged him to do so.

Relatives had been cheered by reports the three would be released
around noon Tokyo time (2300 EDT), but Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo
Fukuda told reporters the trio were not in Japanese custody.

"We are making all-out efforts to improve the situation," Kyodo news
agency quoted him as saying.

Relatives appealed to the captors to let the three go.

"He really loved all the children, and the adults, too, of Iraq,"
Kimiko Koriyama, mother of freelance reporter Soichiro, 32. told
Reuters in an interview. "Please let him see the smiling faces of
those young boys and girls again. I beg you."

Al Jazeera had said the militants would free the Japanese in response
to a call from the Muslim Clerics Association in Iraq.

On Thursday, the militants had threatened to "burn them alive" unless
Japanese troops were pulled out of Iraq within three days -- Sunday
evening Tokyo time.

"What we want most of all is for the troops to be withdrawn to save
their lives," Ayako Inoue, sister of aid worker Nahoko Takato, 34,
told Reuters. The third hostage is Noriaki Imai, 18, who had planned
to study the effects of depleted uranium weapons.

Earlier, the hostages' families handed the government a petition with
what they said were 150,000 signatures, urging Koizumi to consider
withdrawing the troops if it would help.

DIVIDED PUBLIC

Some 500 people held a candlelight protest near the prime minister's
office, chanting "Pull out the troops. Don't murder the three people.
Stop cooperating with the United States."

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi spoke by phone with Iran's foreign
minister, Kamal Kharrazi, to seek his cooperation over the hostages,
the ministry said in a statement.

Japan was stunned when a previously unknown group released a video on
Thursday showing the three, blindfolded and being threatened with
guns and knives.

Vice President Dick Cheney, in Tokyo at the start of a three-nation
tour, was expected to urge Koizumi to stay the course when he meets
the Japanese leader on Monday.

Several foreigners have been killed, kidnapped or gone missing in
Iraq over the past week, putting pressure on U.S. allies including
Japan, Britain, Spain and Italy.

Japan's public is sharply divided over the decision to deploy troops
on a non-combat mission to help rebuild Iraq in Japan's riskiest
military operation since World War II.

Critics say the deployment violates Japan's pacifist constitution and
resent what they see as U.S. pressure on the government to help out
in Iraq. Supporters, however, say it is time for Japan to take a
bolder role in global security.

The release of the hostages would be a huge relief for Koizumi, whose
ruling coalition faces an election in July, and could convince voters
he was right to stand firm.

The main opposition Democratic Party says the dispatch was a mistake
and that the worsening security situation around Samawa, where the
troops are based, violates legal constraints limiting their
activities to "non-combat zones."

(Additional reporting by Elaine Lies, Teruaki Ueno)

<http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4798341>   *****
--
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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