The Japanese being held prisoner are not only going to be burned alive, their captors say they will eat them.
Japan insists violence, kidnappings will not force withdrawal
By Gary Schaefer, Associated Press, 4/8/2004 11:08
TOKYO (AP) The Japanese military encouraged by its American ally to send a non-combat force to Iraq in Tokyo's largest mission abroad since the end of World War II said Thursday the kidnappings of its citizens and what it termed terrorist attacks on its troops would not prompt a withdrawal.
Three Japanese two aid workers and a journalist were taken captive by insurgents even as the Japanese military force in Samawah, in southern Iraq, investigated a series of mortar or rocket attacks on its base overnight.
''Terrorists just want to create confusion. They are trying to make the Self-Defense Forces withdraw,'' Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters. ''I think this was part of such scare tactics.''
Japanese public opinion is deeply split over the mission. The government says the deployment is needed to help rebuild Iraq. Critics fear the troops could be drawn into the fighting.
The dispatch of Japanese troops is politically sensitive inside the country and among its neighbors. The U.S.-drafted constitution for Japan renounces the use of force to settle international disputes. Many see that language as an important guard against a resurgence of Japanese militarism.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said the government was still trying to confirm the kidnappings and threats to burn the hostages alive if Japan does not withdraw. He said there was ''no reason'' to pull out.
About 530 Japanese troops are in southern Iraq, the vanguard of a total planned deployment of 1,100 soldiers for a mission to purify water, rebuild roads and carry out other reconstruction.
Three blasts were heard overnight outside the perimeter of a base where the ground troops are stationed. No injuries or damage were reported. Troops found evidence that mortar rounds had landed several hundred yards away.
Dutch troops in the area helped with the Japanese investigation after reports that a shot may have been fired at the Dutch base as well.
Earlier this week as violence intensified in Iraq, Japanese soldiers postponed repair work they had been conducting on roads and schools outside base grounds. They have been staying inside their base.
The Japanese contingent will continue to supply drinking water to local communities, Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya said.
''The troops there have been paying close attention to safety. They have been trained and they have been prepared,'' Koizumi said.
While the Japanese government said it had not confirmed the kidnappings, television pictures showed the captives during primetime.
The video was originally aired by Arab satellite television station Al-Jazeera and showed the blindfolded male and female aid workers and a male journalist surrounded by their four captors armed with automatic rifles and swords.
Al-Jazeera, broadcasting to the Arab world, showed portions of a tape from a previously unknown group calling itself the ''Mujahedeen Squadrons.''
''If innocent civilians have been kidnapped as reported, it would be unforgivable and we would demand their immediate release,'' Fukuda said.
Passports shown in the Al-Jazeera tape identified the three captives as Soichiro Koriyama, 32, a freelance journalist; and aid workers Noriaki Imai, 18, and Nahoko Takato, 34.
Japanese media reported that Imai had sent an his e-mail to his family on Wednesday saying he was heading from Jordan to Baghdad with the two other Japanese. |
