Despite Bush Administration Pressure, the Japanese People Continue to Say ‘No More War’
After the end of World War II, the Japanese constitution, written by the United States for the defeated Japanese, rejected war as a solution for conflict. Article 9 states: “Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.”
Now 61 years later, the Bush administration is undermining the spirit and intent of Article 9 of the Japanese constitution by urging the Japanese government to allow the Japanese Self-Defense forces to provide air and sea logistics assistance to Bush’s war on Iraq. Former Assistant Secretary of State Richard Armitage in 2004 complained that “Article 9 is an impediment to the US-Japanese alliance,” an alliance the Bush administration wants to use to spread the financial and military operational burden of the war on Iraq.
Over the objections of many Japanese citizens, the Japanese government havs provided limited numbers of refueling ships for resupplying American warships and logistic transport aircraft that fly supplies into Baghdad. A recent decision by the High Court of Nagoya found that Japanese Air Self-Self Defense Force missions into Iraq were unconstitutional as they violated Article 9.
80 percent of the Japanese people want their government to retain their constitutional rejection of war and they are organizing to protect Article 9. In every city and village in Japan there is an Article 9 committee that meets frequently to educate the public on the need to retain Article 9 as it has played an important role in establishing trust relationships between Japan and the Asia-Pacific region. According to the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict, Article 9 is of critical importance for the prevention of conflict and is the “foundation for collective security for the entire Asia-Pacific region.”
On May 3, Japanese Constitution Day, tens of thousands of Japanese in Tokyo gathered for a rally and march to protect Article 9. On May 4 over 8,000 Japanese attending the Global Article Nine Conference to Abolish War listened to speakers from all over the world, including Americans Cora Weiss of the Hague Appeal for Peace, US Army conscientious objector Aidan Delgado and myself, a former US Army colonel and a diplomat who resigned in opposition to the Iraq war, who urged the Japanese people to continue to reject participation in war. 1976 Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire called for nations of the world to look toward the Japanese constitution as a model for preventing armed conflict.
Japanese citizens remembering World War II, as Americans citizens today, know the slippery slope of offensive military actions for political and/or economic objectives. The Bush administration’s decision to invade and occupy, without the authorization of the collective international community through the United Nations Security Council, the oil-rich, Arab, Muslim country of Iraq reminds the Japanese of their invasion of resource-rich countries of Asia 70 years ago. Those actions resulted in a moral, ethical and legal crisis for Japan, as similar actions over the past five years by the United States have brought our country to national crisis.
Many Japanese government officials were tried for war crimes for their actions during World War II.
Holding officials of the American government accountable for their illegal actions in Iraq, for torture, and for illegal imprisonment of thousands of innocent men, women and children is the next step in American and international determination to end illegal wars of choice and making those responsible who do chose to use bullets rather than words.
For more information on the Global Article 9 Conference to Abolish War, see www.whynot9.jp/index_en.html
Ann Wright is a 29 year US Army/US Army Reserve veteran who retired as a Colonel. She was also a US diplomat for 16 years and served in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan and Mongolia. She resigned in March, 2003 from the US Government in opposition to the Iraq war. She is the co-author of “Dissent: Voices of Conscience.”
The Japanese government seems still to be nicely compliant after all these years, understanding as they must that we wrote their constitution and are therefore best qualified to interpret it. We could write up something like a renunciation of the sovereign right of jihad for our new friends the Iraqis to put in their constitution, though it might be wise to wait a few years. We might need them to fight a few more proxy wars for us in the Middle East.
Ammend the US Constitution today by adding Article 9 of the Japanese constitution. It should read as follows:
“Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the American people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained as a potential threat. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.”
Right on generallee. We need this article in our own constitution. Unfortunately, the corporate citizens
in our society, General Dynamics, Blackwater, GE, Motorola, etc., make a lot of money off of war so they
probably won’t back this idea. Maybe first we need to put corporations back in their place by remembering
our government is for and by “the people” and not the corporations which have hijacked our government. and
bought our elected officials.
Thank you Ann, Cora and Aidan for going to Japan to represent the many citizens of the USA who believe that aggressive acts of war will never be the solution to international disputes. Let us hope that the 80% of the Japanese who want to retain Article 9 of their Constitution are successful in reigning in those in their government who are easily cowed by the Bush Administration.
In every city and village in Japan there is an Article 9 committee that meets frequently to educate the public on the need to retain Article 9
There you have it, people. Unless you’re organizing in every city and village to educate the public on the need to address the truly important issues, you probably deserve to lose your country.
lover of peace May 5th, 2008 4:59 pm
While I agree with you sentiments, unfortunately history records that most international disputes have been solved by aggressive acts of war and probably will be in our lifetimes.
But the Japanese should retain Article 9. We have the responsibility to protect them by agreement, they have no need to rearm nor should they.
“Holding officials of the American government accountable for their illegal actions in Iraq, for torture, and for illegal imprisonment of thousands of innocent men, women and children is the next step in American and international determination to end illegal wars of choice and making those responsible who do chose to use bullets rather than words.”
This really says it all about what needs to be done in order to start our own path to peace.
If only the myopic and imagination deficient among us (including right here on CD) could screw up enough courage to start visualizing a new way forward… It’s a stretch, but could you at least try?
This part of article 9…
In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained.
has already been violated since Japan, of course, has an army, navy and an air force. In fact, it has the 4th largest military in the world.
But Japan now has a teachers union which vehemently opposes the militarization of Japan, seeing teachers as having been greatly responsible for the militarization of Japan in the 1930s. But did the US support the teachers union after WWII? No, US liberals and conservatives declared a “reverse course” policy on the social democratic soceity that was supposed to be created and backed the WWII fascist bureaucrats and the Liberal Democratic Party which has continuously been in power for over 50 years.
Read Chalmers Johnson for more.
Article 9 remains important to most Japanese because of the quid pro quo with the United States which provides that Japan will be defended in the event that it is attacked.
But at some point in the foreseeable future the US will be obliged to withdraw from the arrangement since it will no longer be able to afford to sustain it. As it becomes increasingly dependent on foreign powers for its economic survival, particularly China, the US will be forced to vastly shrink its military and will no longer be in any position to defend Japan.
When this becomes apparent to Japan it will repeal Article 9, almost certainly with American blessings, and will most assuredly become a nuclear armed military power. (Can anyone doubt that Japan possesses the launch vehicles and access to weapons grade nuclear materials even now?) Japan will see this as a military equalizer in a world that still finds the balance of terror as a way of neutralizing conventional military attack.
This is not just one more possible scenario; it is, sadly, a virtual certainty
Kilroy was there…
Japan has a self-defense force and that is all it needs. Most Japanese would like the US military to leave. The bases occupy valuable land that the Japanese people could use, and those who work on the bases are usually not welcomed outside of the base (as in Korea). Japan does not need US forces to protect itself. By moving beyond militarism, Japan has found other means to sustain itself. One look at Germany and Japan as post-war economies, proves it is possible to move beyond a military-industrial complex. Unfortunately, both countries had to be conquered first. Perhaps one day, a greater military power will conquer the US, try those who were responsible for war crimes and impose a peaceful constitution. If we leave it to the American people, it will never happen. There are too many lambs bleating along with the leaders that we need to “protect our interests”.
The day the United States adopts Article 9 is the day we can begin to hope for a decent, more peaceful world.
Make the Americans pay. It’s an American initiative, so bleed the American people until they say ENOUGH. The only way the American culture of braggadocio will end is to repeat the Depression. No work, no money, no leisure. When Americans remember and relive the struggle for life, they may have a renewed outlook on the rest of the planet.
Make the Americans pay. It’s an American initiative, so bleed the American people until they say ENOUGH. The only way the American culture of braggadocio will end is to repeat the Depression. No work, no money, no leisure. When Americans remember and relive the struggle for life, they may have a renewed outlook on the rest of the planet.
Maybe we can somehow sneak Article 9 in as a constitutional amendment– buried deep inside an amendment prohibiting flag-burning, or carrying a concealed deadly nipple, or something else that’s important to our political elite.
Maybe if W puked on them like his dad did, he’d get some respect.
The Japanese government has been consistently violating its constitution for the last sixty one year. The Japanese people are not about to change their ways any time soon.
kalia — How has the Japanese government violated its constitution ? Sounds like you don’t know what you’re talking about.