U.S. protests Kyuma's criticism of Bush's decision to start Iraq war

TOKYO, Jan. 28 Kyodo

The U.S. government has protested Japanese Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma's remarks earlier this week criticizing U.S. President George W. Bush's decision to launch the war in Iraq, saying they could have inclement effects on the bilateral alliance, diplomatic sources said Saturday.

James Zumwalt, director of the Office of Japanese Affairs at the U.S. State Department, made the protest to a staff member at the Japanese Embassy in Washington, saying the United States takes the remarks seriously as they came shortly after Bush's State of the Union speech, the sources said.

In the annual speech Tuesday, Bush urged Congress to throw its support behind his plan to increase the number of U.S. troops in Iraq at a time when his approval ratings in opinion polls are at their lowest point.

The United States lodged the protest after Kyuma told the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo on Wednesday he believes it was a mistake that Bush decided to go ahead with the war in Iraq in March 2003 on the assumption -- which later turned out to be wrong -- that the country had nuclear weapons.

Zumwalt also said it may be difficult to arrange the schedule for the next Japan-U.S. ministerial security talks involving the foreign and defense ministers of the two countries if there were further remarks from Japan critical of the U.S. president, the sources said.

Japan has been hoping to hold the so-called ''two-plus-two'' security meeting at an early time. The two countries last held the ministerial talks last May in Washington, where they compiled a final report on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan.

The next two-plus-two talks would be attended by Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso and Kyuma as well as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Kyuma and Gates took up their posts in September and December last year, respectively.

Zumwalt urged the Japanese government to promptly indicate its formal reaction to the United States' new policy on Iraq and expressed hope that Kyuma's comments would not grow into a major issue between the two countries, according to the sources.

On Friday morning, Kyuma told a press conference he will be more careful with his comments as his earlier remarks, widely seen as critical of Bush's decision to launch the war in Iraq, came out stronger than intended.

''If they were taken (as criticism), I think I should be more careful about how I say things,'' Kyuma said. ''Even if they were my thoughts, I think perhaps it might be better not to say them.''

The defense minister said what he meant to say was that he thought back then the U.S. leader should have been more careful about making the decision, but his words were conveyed ''very strongly'' by the English-language media.

''It might be due to differences between Japanese and English, but I decided not to talk about the past anymore,'' Kyuma said, adding he met briefly with Aso after the Cabinet meeting Friday morning to make sure their remarks do not conflict.

In a related incident, Kyuma said at a Diet committee session in December that former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's expression of Japan's outright support for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq ''was not made officially'' but was just comments Koizumi made to the media.

He retracted his remarks the following day but expressed his personal view against the government's support of the Iraq war, saying, ''I felt at that time that it was premature and I personally still feel so now. I believe there should have been a better alternative.''

On March 20, 2003, after the invasion of Iraq, Koizumi, who was prime minister at the time, said he ''understands and supports the use of force'' in Iraq, and his statement was approved by the Cabinet as the government's official view.

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