JAPAN:JAPAN'S SENDING of airforce troops to Iraq breaches the country's pacifist constitution, a court said yesterday, but the government said the finding will not affect the current deployment.
Japan has about 210 airforce personnel in Kuwait, from where they airlift supplies to the US-led forces in Baghdad and other regions of Iraq.
More than 1,100 people, including a former Japanese ambassador to Lebanon, had brought an action demanding that the deployment be suspended and seeking damages of around €63 a person. The court dismissed the case itself, saying it could not rule on the suspension of the dispatch and that the plaintiffs did not suffer psychological damage.
However, the court said the deployment violated article nine of Japan's 1947 constitution, which renounces war and forbids the use of force to settle international disputes.
The court said the deployment of the troops also violated a special law that enabled the country to send troops to Iraq while limiting their activities to non-combat regions.
"We will consult with the related ministries as to whether legal measures such as an appeal are necessary, but this will not influence the current activities of the airforce in any way," chief cabinet secretary Nobutaka Machimura said.
The defence ministry said it could not comment on the case until it checks the ruling.
Japan withdrew some 600 ground troops from the southern Iraqi city of Samawa in 2006 after a non-combat mission lasting more than two years.
- (Reuters)