Bush wrong on Iraq, says Japan

[sabra]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21111637-1702,00.html


Bush wrong on Iraq, says Japan

US President George W. Bush was wrong to invade Iraq, Japan's defence minister said today, and warned that Tokyo could not automatically renew its air force mission to the war-torn country.

The rebuke from one of Washington's closest foreign allies came hours after an embattled Mr Bush used his annual State of the Union address to plead for public support to send more troops to Iraq.

“Mr Bush went ahead in a situation as if there were nuclear weapons, but I think that decision was wrong,” Defence Minister Fumio Kyuma said of the 2003 invasion.

...

“We must look very carefully at what the United Nations will continue to request from Japan. Just because the US decided to reinforce troops does not mean that Japan should do the same. It's not so simple,” he said.

[OregonBlue]

1. Wow. This is the Defene Minister saying this.

[sakabatou]

2. Wrong on Iraq and pretty much everything

[VegasWolf]

3. So that is what "W" stands for - wrong. George Wrong Bush. nt

[Vidar]

4. Good to hear.

[0007]

5. The world is speaking out and now everything knows that we are full of shit!!

Except us.

[psychopomp]

6. Japan has energy needs that the US has put at risk

The day that Japan's interests diverge from those of the USA has come much sooner than I expected. Look for PM Abe to push forWARd with his plan to rewrite the Constitution beginning with a major announcement by spring.

Japan has worked solidly to build friendly ties with ME countries that the USA has worked just as hard to disrupt.

[Strelnikov_]

7. Spoken like a country that imports 96% of it's petroleum fix

(5.2 M bbl/dy), nearly all of which is from the Persian Gulf region.

Japan's Energy Supplies at Risk

http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2370208

Oil imports from countries along the Persian Gulf accounted for 90.3% of Japan's total for the month of September (Kyodo News Service, October 31). Saudi Arabia was Japan's largest oil supplier in September, with exports of 36.23 million barrels (bbl); the United Arab Emirates came second with shipments to Japan totaling 34.03 million bbl; Iran was third with 14.53 million bbl; Qatar was fourth with 11.51 million bbl; and Kuwait ranked fifth with exports to Japan at 7.11 million bbl. Since all of that crude oil must pass through the Strait of Hormuz, any sustained disruption of supplies—whether from terrorist attack or from conventional warfare—would have clear, catastrophic results for Japan.

[bonito]

8. Kick

[Eugene]

9. (Friday) Kyuma says, ""I did not say it was a mistake." Possible translation glitch.

Japan Criticizes U.S. Over Iraq War

By KANA INAGAKI
The Associated Press
Friday, January 26, 2007; 1:58 AM

TOKYO -- Japan's defense minister backtracked Friday on earlier comments criticizing
the United States' decision to invade Iraq as a mistake, but said he thought the
decision should have been more cautiously made.

"I did not say it was a mistake, but I thought at the time (the U.S.) should have been
more cautious," Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma said Friday in response to a reporter's
question after a Cabinet meeting.

Kyuma also suggested that English translations of his remarks had led to some of the
confusion.

"Instead of being in the past tense, the comment came out very strongly. Perhaps it's
the difference between Japanese and English," he said.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/26/AR2007012600022.html

[oasis]

10. Bush's pal Koizumi likely called in an old debt on the defense minister.

Another trip to Graceland is now in the works.:puke:

[Bonobo]

11. Here's the quote in Japanese and the translation. Judge for yourself.

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

The quote above say: "Although President Bush probably went into Iraq because they had nuclear weapons, but that judgment was mistaken."

He then went on to say+ ??????????????????????????????? which means that "there still is no prescription for how to deal with the situation."

My opinion is that it is a criticism indeed and that since Japanese people usually say things much more softly than Americans, it is a pretty strong rebuke.

PS. I'm a Japanese translator by profession.

ON EDIT: Sorry the Japanse didn't show up. It showed up in my browser when I first pasted them...