Kawamura, on 9-11 anniv, worried about DPJ ending refueling ops

Friday 11th September, 12:53 PM JST

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timorborder at 02:14 PM JST - 11th September

Seem to remember that Kawamura tried a bit of scare campaign regarding Japan's foreign policy immediately before the election as well. As history shows, that tactic didn't work then, and it does not really hold water now.

Whatever happened to defeated politicians/parties bowing out gracefully until such time as the new administration (government) was at least sworn in. The DPJ won a mandate to govern this country. As such, what Kawamura has to say at the current time is largely irrelevant. It seems to me that he is just getting in a few weak parting shots (and thus column inches in the newspaper) before he and the rest of the Toxic Taro's merry band are condemned to the pages of history.

Don't slam the door on your way out buddy.
wanderlust at 03:12 PM JST - 11th September

It's no longer anything to do with him. He should just keep quiet.

And since when did Japan consider "movements in the international community"?

Abolition of capital punishment, gender/ foreigners' discrimination, protection of children against abuse, protection of workers are all ignored here. Why suddenly jump on the anto-terrorist bandwagon?
movieguy at 03:26 PM JST - 11th September

"Timorborder, AMEN! What is it with politicans who have absolutley no class whatsoever. Can't anyone show any graciousness in defeat. They are just a bunch of war mongers.
sabiwabi at 03:26 PM JST - 11th September

‘‘We must be thinking hard about how to move in step with the undertaking by the international community toward eliminating terror.’’

Actually, the "international community" (or at least those who claim to represent it) ARE terror.

Hopefully the new government will get to the bottom of it.
Jaegger at 03:51 PM JST - 11th September

No true, the refueling mission is on support of warships in the Indian Ocean, mainly for CTF-150. Nobody is supposed to kill pour Afgans using that oil!
Seiharinokaze at 03:57 PM JST - 11th September

And how long will it take to bring peace to Afghanistan by deploying the world mightiest forces as well as those from about forty countries in the world? Almost eight years have passed since Kabul fell. Are situations getting any better? Even Japan's all-out war was brought to an end in less than 4 years.

Stationing foreign troops for too long ferments weariness and then repellence among the natives in the way as the casualties increase. Ozawa san said to Sen. John McCain that they (foreign powers) may be able to topple the government by military strength but they cannot govern the people. He even dared to comment elsewhere last February that the U.S. cannot win in Afghanistan however more troops they may dispatch. It's obvious from what happened in Vietnam. That's how the leader in the shadow actually thinks of this war. So Ms Fukushima of the Social Democratic Party might be a good excuse for the new government to be late and indecisive to contribute to such an uncertain war. Besides which how do they raise money for the war since the fraudulent economy of market fundamentalism has already collapsed to let China and even Japan begin casting doubt on continuing to buy US treasury bonds?
SushiSake3 at 10:16 PM JST - 11th September

‘‘If a new administration ends the refueling mission, I must say it would go against the movements in the international community toward the elimination of terror,’’

Japanese naval assets are being used as a free floating gas station.

That's a good reason to stop the 'mission.'
Fadamor at 12:28 AM JST - 12th September

Japanese naval assets are being used as a free floating gas station.

I guarantee the fuel isn't free. You can be sure the countries with forces in the area are getting billed for the fuel.
teck at 12:47 AM JST - 12th September

It is free. That's the price Japan is paying for wanting to be seen as part of the international community committed towards ending terrorism.
OssanAmerica at 01:24 AM JST - 12th September

It is free. That's the price Japan is paying for wanting to be seen as >part of the international community committed towards ending terrorism.

..But without the hassle of of revising their constitution and actually sending troops to assist the US and Nato forces there.
amerijap at 01:31 AM JST - 12th September

‘‘If a new administration ends the refueling mission, I must say it would go against the movements in the international community toward the elimination of terror,’’

Yeah, this sounds so naive in a political context. Does he understand who is leading what he calls "the movements"???
zurcronium at 02:35 AM JST - 12th September

If the fueling is helping the occupation of Iraq then its actually helping to promote terrorism in the world. Before the bush invasion Iraq did not have terrorism as we see daily now under the US puppet government in Iraq.

Japan is fortunate it has not been attacked for assisting the bush war crimes in the middle east.
Fadamor at 02:39 AM JST - 12th September

I retract my statement that the fuel wasn't free. That was truly an amazing "score" by coalition forces in that they got free fuel. Perhaps Japan felt that the cost of the fuel was paltry compared to the cost of putting Japanese military personnel directly in the line of fire. An acceptable contribution to the effort without having to deal with the plane-loads of caskets returning from the warzone.
TheMarion at 04:36 AM JST - 12th September

Personally, I support everybody closing off all militay actions all over the world and everyone going home. It is high time for all hands to return to their own country and build a good defense. In the tomorrows to come, you will see terrorism shift into high gear. In the idiom of the Boy Scouts -"Be Prepared."
TheQuestion at 05:54 AM JST - 12th September

If the fueling is helping the occupation of Iraq then its actually helping to promote terrorism in the world. Before the bush invasion Iraq did not have terrorism as we see daily now under the US puppet government in Iraq.

So the terrorist elements in Iraq just kind of popped into existance the second the old regime fell? I can see two flaws with that, for starters it violates the laws of conservation of mass and energy, second it seems more likely that they were already in Iraq but weren't being persecuted by Sadam. How they figured that directing attacks on civilian targets would help their cause is still a mystery to me but whatever. We're there now.

Japan is fortunate it has not been attacked for assisting the bush war crimes in the middle east.

You mean like how Spain (a non contributor to either war) was attacked in 2004 or their attacks on Pakistan or those directed towards a slew of other country's civilian populations? Yeah, those heros in al qaeda, always sticking it to the devils in the west...or at least the devil's women and children.

Personally, I support everybody closing off all militay actions all over the world and everyone going home. It is high time for all hands to return to their own country and build a good defense. In the tomorrows to come, you will see terrorism shift into high gear.

So rather than engauge them on their home turf you would rather wait for them to strike at a domestic target?

In the idiom of the Boy Scouts -"Be Prepared."

Actually thats the Boy Scout motto, an idiom is a set of words that means something other than the literal meanings of its individual words. In this case 'Be Prepared' is ment literally.