Koizumi's headache over token dispatch of SDF
As of writing, 11 p.m., November 2 JST, it's still anybody's guess whether
or not the incumbent President, alleged by Michael Moore to have hijacked
the White House four years ago, will be able to hold on to his post for four
more years. So Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will have a sleepless
night fretting about the final result.
On October 26 a militant group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi took hostage a Japanese backpacker by the name of Shosei Koda. Their message posted on a website demanded that Koizumi pull out in 48 hours his Self Defense Forces deployed in Samawah.
The PM's offhand answer to the demand was nothing but automatic and banal. We heard him use the same old rhetoric he'd borrowed from Bush: "We will never give in to the terrorists". But to him, never giving in to the terrorists is one thing and negotiating with them, most probably dangling a handsome amount of ransom, is another. That's why the Japanese government was once again looking desperately for a Muslim cleric who was willing to mediate. But unfortunately al-Zarqawi was not in the mood of striking a deal this time. · read more (480 words)
On October 26 a militant group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi took hostage a Japanese backpacker by the name of Shosei Koda. Their message posted on a website demanded that Koizumi pull out in 48 hours his Self Defense Forces deployed in Samawah.
The PM's offhand answer to the demand was nothing but automatic and banal. We heard him use the same old rhetoric he'd borrowed from Bush: "We will never give in to the terrorists". But to him, never giving in to the terrorists is one thing and negotiating with them, most probably dangling a handsome amount of ransom, is another. That's why the Japanese government was once again looking desperately for a Muslim cleric who was willing to mediate. But unfortunately al-Zarqawi was not in the mood of striking a deal this time. · read more (480 words)