10-14-07, 8:21 am
Opposition to MSDF refueling in the Indian Ocean
Nationwide actions took place on October 3 in protest against the Fukuda government’s attempt to continue the Maritime Self-Defense Force refueling operations in the Indian Ocean.
About 3,500 people in Tokyo and 3,600 in Osaka took part in rallies and marched in demonstration, shouting, “Withdraw the MSDF from the Indian Ocean! Make use of the war-renouncing Article 9 to contribute to international peace!”
In the Tokyo rally, National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) President Ban’nai Mitsuo on behalf of the rally organizers stressed the need to stop the SDF refueling mission serving the U.S.-led war of retaliation and called on the participants to force the Fukuda government to hold a snap election if it clings to continuing the SDF activities.
Kokuta Keiji, Japanese Communist Party Diet Policy Commission chair, stated that despite the major change in the House of Councilors composition, the Fukuda government is still sticking to the policy of continuing the MSDF refueling operation to serve U.S. interests.
Kokuta emphasized that war cannot eradicate terrorism and that Japan’s assistance to the U.S. retaliatory war goes against the Constitution.
After the rally, participants marched in demonstration to the Diet Building passing near the U.S. Embassy.
Activists took to the streets in Kyoto, Nagoya, Shizuoka, and Kanazawa, distributing handbills, collecting signatures in opposition to the continuation of the MSDF mission, and marching in demonstrations.
MSDF has given 80% of fuel to U.S. warships: refueling in Indian Ocean
It was revealed that the Maritime Self-Defense Force provided the U.S. warships with about 80 percent of the total amount of fuel it supplied to foreign vessels in the Indian Ocean.
This fact proves that Japan has been supporting U.S. military operations despite the government and ruling parties claim that the MSDF refueling mission is a “contribution to the international community.”
In the period between December 2001 and August 30, 2007, the MSDF provided a total of 484,000 kiloliters of fuel (worth 22 billion yen), of which 79.5 percent or 385,000 kiloliters (worth 16.2 billion yen) went to U.S. warships, according to a Defense Ministry document released by October 2.
Another Defense Ministry document shows that between December 2001 and March 2003, the MSDF gave 49 percent (237,000 kiloliters) of the total amount of fuel to U.S. and British warships.
In this period, the U.S. not only waged its war of retaliation in Afghanistan but launched the war in Iraq. It was earlier revealed that the MSDF refueled a U.S. aircraft carrier and other warships that took part in the Iraq War.
The government claims that the MSDF refueling operation should not be regarded as “assistance for the U.S. forces” on the grounds of an increase in refueling to a Pakistani vessel in the past year.
Although the MSDF indeed regularly refueled a small Pakistani ship, the amount of 19,000 kiloliters accounts for only four percent of the total.
From Akahata
