Posted on 05/14/2007 1:56:13 AM PDT by ASC2006
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Monday strongly defended the invasion of Iraq, calling Saddam Hussein a dictator who posed a threat to the region.
Abe is seeking parliamentary approval to extend an air force mission in Iraq amid growing international criticism of the war, with Britain's likely next premier Gordon Brown promising a new approach.
"It is a certainty that Iraq once used weapons of mass destruction [WMDs] in its attacks against Kurdish people - its own nationals - and used them in the Iran-Iraq War," Abe said, referring to Saddam's use of poison gas.
"We had to conclude it was a threat to peace and stability in the Middle East to allow the Iraqi dictator to have weapons of mass destruction," Abe told a lower house committee.
"They had a number of chances to prove that they abandoned WMDs, but they didn't," Abe said. "In those circumstances, Japan decided to support the use of force, which was not wrong at the time."
Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, was a staunch supporter of the invasion of Iraq, and took the landmark step of sending Japanese troops on a non-combat reconstruction mission to the country.
(Excerpt) Read more at metimes.com ...
Yes it is refreshing... but this is becoming minority opinion on FR. Sometimes I think hackers have mirrored the du to FR! FR has far too many “We have lost the War” members these days. Sad...
LLS
I’ve noticed this too. Sad.
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