Japanese editorial excerpts -3-

TOKYO, March 21 Kyodo

Selected editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

4 YEARS OF WAR IN IRAQ (IHT/Asahi as translated from the

Japanese-language Asahi Shimbun's editorial published March 20)

Four full years have passed since U.S. and British forces invaded Iraq in the face of widespread opposition voiced around the world. Look at the outcome of the war now. Nobody could possibly say Iraq or the world is safer today than in 2003. It is hard not to be stunned by the enormity of the losses caused by this misstep.

Before the onset of war, then U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell made the case for military action against the regime of Saddam Hussein in his speech to the U.N. Security Council. Later, Powell bitterly recalled the moment, saying it was a ''blot'' on his record. The comment apparently reflects his deep regret about how he tried to persuade the international community to support a war based on unfounded intelligence.

It is widely known that the security policy of the Bush administration was shaped mostly by his neoconservative advisers. Francis Fukuyama, once one of the opinion leaders in the neocon camp, later declared his ideological conversion. Fukuyama argued that linking the Sept. 11 terror attacks against the United States to Iraq was nothing more than fraudulent.

The biggest failure of the U.S. and British governments was the discovery that weapons of mass destruction, cited as the central cause for the war, did not exist. The two governments manipulated intelligence to make the world believe a security crisis was unfolding. The manipulation of intelligence was exposed by investigations conducted by the U.S. Congress and other organizations to uncover the reasons for the policy debacle.

In Japan, meantime, the administration of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and that of his successor, Shinzo Abe, have continued to justify their respective decisions to support the U.S.-led war against Iraq. Neither has discussed the wrong decision to start war in the first place.

Only one member of the current Cabinet, Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma, has talked candidly about his negative views of the war..

The alliance with the United States is vital for Japan's defense. But that doesn't mean the government should stop thinking independently and just go along with any U.S. policy. It could happen that the interests of two close allies don't coincide. As a nation that started its postwar history with serious soul-searching over a devastating war, Japan should have made greater efforts to help prevent the war against Iraq. That's how we feel now.

In order to pursue its own foreign policy agenda while cherishing the alliance with the United States, Japan needs a lot of diplomatic prowess in promoting international cooperation, especially through the United Nations and other multilateral frameworks.

A mistake offers many lessons. The first thing to do is to face up to the mistake.

(March 21)

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