Statements

We, the Japan P.E.N. Club, from our standpoint to love peace and to protect the freedom of speech and human rights, have thus far issued statements against the U.S. and British invasion into Iraq and we also have filed protests with our government against its support of what the two nations did.

Despite our efforts, the Koizumi Administration and the Coalition Government Parties are planning to detail our Self-Defense Forces to Iraq in the near future, complying with the request of the U.S. Government on the ground that the Japan-U.S. alliance is of a great importance.

We, the Japan P.E.N. Club, express our disapproval of this with a deep resentment and strongly call on the Koizumi Administration and the Coalition Government Parties, not to send the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq.

For all our protest against the U.S.-British invasion, it goes without saying that we take no side with the former Saddam Hussein Administration that had ruled Iraqi people by fear and we are absolutely against the indiscriminate terrorism by the extremists.

The vital point is this that the Iraq War was an unjustified war the Bush Administration started by force without the assent of the UN Security Council, as well as ignoring general objections across the world. The mass-destruction weapons that the administration had emphasized as the pretext of opening hostilities have so far never been detected. Although Iraq is presently under occupation of the U.S.-British Army, the country virtually remains a battlefield. Sending our Self-Defense Forces to such Iraq would not make a "rehabilitation support", but would offer a "military support" to the occupation government of the U.S.-British Army. The people of Iraq might consider the Japanese Self Defense Forces as a corps attached to the U.S.-British Army, and it would never fail to be a target of Iraqi armed groups.

Currently, each politician is exposed to a critical moment when it is very difficult for his or her conscience may be able to stay clear.

Ministers of Koizumi Administration and members of the Diet, do you dare to dispatch the young Japanese soldiers to Iraq and let them shed blood with a full knowledge of what will happen?

We believe that the rehabilitation and the rule of Iraq must be transferred from the hands of the U.S. and the U.K. to those of Iraqi people with the support of the United Nations.

Peace will never be born from the exchange of violence and terrorism. If the Japanese Government is a true ally with the U.S., rather than pouring oil on the flames by dispatching the Self-Defense Forces, it should persuade the U.S. to lay down its arms, and make an appeal to them to cut off the chain reaction of violence and terrorism.

Before the situation get bogged down into the quagmire as grueling as that of the Vietnam War, we consider it is vital to prevail on the U.S. to evacuate from Iraq immediately, and give way to the UN to take the lead in rehabilitation, and return the sovereignty to Iraqi people.

Since the defeat of the Pacific War, we took the pledge not to use someone's misfortune to build our fortune upon, and never again to send our youth to the battlefield, and have firmly held to it. We are very proud of the fact that Japan has not sent any troops overseas, and that she has not invaded any foreign country for more than half a century after we acquired peace from the defeat.

We, the Japan P.E.N. Club, strongly request the Koizumi Administration and the Coalition Government Parties to make a pledge not to urge the nation to war again, and cancel the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq.

November 26, 2003