From the Taipei Times: Fukuda seeks greater military role.

     Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda yesterday told a resurgent opposition that Japan must not be a "bystander" in the US-led "war on terror" as he fought to extend a naval mission in the Indian Ocean.

     The opposition won control of one house of parliament in July elections and has vowed to defeat government proposals to extend the naval mission providing fuel and logistical support to US-led forces in Afghanistan.

     It has so far ignored a government compromise that would stop refueling operations backing combat troops, restricting support to ships policing the Indian Ocean.

     Addressing a parliamentary committee attended by key lawmakers from the ruling coalition and opposition, Fukuda said that Japan, as the world's second-largest economy, needed to contribute to international security.

     Saying that the international community was united after the 2001 terrorist attacks on the US, Fukuda said: "How can we sit back as a bystander?"

     He also assured the opposition that the Indian Ocean mission does not violate Japan's pacifist Constitution, which was imposed by the US after World War II.

     "First of all, the mission is not an act of force," Fukuda said. "It does not infringe on the Constitution at all."

     Ok, Ozawa doesn't want the MSDF to support combat ops but he is OK with sending ground troops to participate in ISAF, where the inevitable result would be real, live (or dead) Japanese casaulties.  This plays up what I was saying earlieer, the longer you go with out adressing the reality of the situation the more warped your preception of reality becomes.  If Fukuda wants to play a bigger role in such military operations he should go ahead and do one of three things.

1.  Bluntly admit that the mere exsistance of the SDF violates the constitution (which it does as noted here) and that of you are already in violation then there is nothing holding Japan back from violating the rest of article nine.  Call this the 'in for a penny, in for a pound' approach.

2.  Force through a revision to the constitutional amendment law to get rid of the three year waiting period before the constitution can be amended and move for an immeadate amendment of article nine.  This is the legalistic approach, and the one that offers the most legitimacy, at least to those that would scream bloody murder if Japan went for option one.

3.  Deny that the current constitution is not binding on Japan due to the fact that it was adopted under duress.  This of course ignores the fact the current constitution was ratified by a plebicite before it came into effect, but the argument can be made that the involvement of the occupying power in the drawing up of the governmental charter taints it due to the clearly superior-inferior status of the two nations. 

     Of these three options I would say one would only happen if a PM had an unassailable majority in both houses, massive popularity and a mjor crisis on Japan's doorstep, in which case national security takes precedence over what other people may think.  Number two is by far the most likely, but still a long shot as the DPJ was largely opposed to the current amendment law that was passed back in may.  As for number three it is only possible on an earth in some paralell universe, the political  and practical fall out at home and abroad would simply not be worth the results in any sense of the word.

     So how do you play a bigger role in military operations when you can not allow your military to actually fight?  That is a question that I certainly can't answer, one can either fight or not.  I am deeply apreciative of the actions that Japan has taken thus far, but once more I have to say that Prime Minister Fukuda should change the debate from wether or not Japan should be supporting such operations, but rather why she must participate directly, and that article nine is a relic of the past that needs to placed firmly where it belongs, in the past.

Posted by: raging tachikoma at 01:08 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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