PanOrient News | The Iraq War's Damage to US-Japan Relations

Please Select Your Language : Arabic | Japanese

Op-Ed

The Iraq War's Damage to US-Japan Relations

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Peter Ennis

By Peter Ennis

The official end of US combat operations in Iraq has prompted a surge in commentaries on the impact of the war, none more important than Anne Applebaum's in the Washington Post on August 30. (Leave aside for a moment that 50,000 US troops remain on the ground in Iraq, in arguably a more dangerous position than before.)

Applebaum tries to assess the impact that seven years of war in Iraq has had on American society, and American foreign policy. The price, she rightly says, has been "much higher than we usually admit."

In the realm of foreign policy, Applebaum argues that the war severely damaged "America's reputation for effectiveness," and undermined "America's ability to organize a coalition."

Specific examples cited: Participation in the Iraq War cost Tony Blair his reputation, lost an election for the Spanish government, and proved unpopular even in countries where the United States is popular, such as Italy and Poland.

As is usual in Washington these days, there was no mention - and probably no consideration - of Japan. But a strong case can be made that the Iraq War hurt America's reputation in Japan as much, if not more, than in any other allied country.

The consequences are evident today in the increasingly bitter dispute over a replacement for the US Marine Air Station Futenma, on Okinawa, which is scheduled to be closed. They are reflected in the broader calls in Japan these days for a "more equal" alliance relationship with the United States.

The Okinawa dispute predates the Iraq War, and the calls for more equality in the alliance were inevitable. But deep concerns and disappointment about American 'unilateralism' and haughty, heavy-handed diplomacy, prompted by the Iraq War, have made those sentiments more salient and intense.

It didn't start out that way. After the 9.11 terrorist attacks, the government led by Junichiro Koizumi moved quickly to support US and allied forces in combat operations to overthrow the Taliban-led regime in Afghanistan. Public opinion supported Koizumi's stance.

Just as occurred in Europe, however, public opinion in Japan did not support America's shift in focus from Afghanistan to Iraq. Many political leaders and officials in the defense and foreign ministries also harbored deep doubts about the wisdom of the Iraq invasion.

Nonetheless, Koizumi supported the Bush administration, in expectation of close US-Japan coordination on policy toward China and North Korea. Japan dispatched a small unit of ground forces to Iraq for rebuilding operations, and Japanese air force units provided an important transport link between Kuwait and Iraq.

Many officials in Tokyo subsequently complained bitterly that Japan gained nothing from the support provided for the Iraq War, as the Bush administration ran a zig-zag, inconsistent policy toward North Korea and froze Japan out of the deliberations.

Moreover, support for Japan's refueling of US and allied ships in the Indian Ocean declined in Japan as those operations came to be seen as a part of the US combat operations in Iraq, rather than the initial intent of combating terrorism in Afghanistan.

Koizumi's support for the Bush administration's Iraq policy was an important, though often understated, factor in the rise to power of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). The DPJ argued that Koizumi's LDP had no other policy than to blindly follow Washington's Iraq misadventure.

When the DPJ opposed renewal of Japan's Indian Ocean refueling operations, many in Tokyo were stunned that some US Democrats who opposed the Iraq War nevertheless heavy-handedly pressured Japan to maintain its support for the "alliance."

It was okay for Barack Obama to oppose the Iraq War, but not Japan.

The Iraq War, and Koizumi's support, had a profound impact on the subsequent evolution of debate in Japan over security policy. Before the war, support was gradually growing in Japan for an easing of the country's ban on "collective self-defense." But for many, an easing of the ban became conflated with unquestioning support for American military operations. A commission appointed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to study the issue developed very credible, workable suggestions, but its report has done nothing but gather dust. Abe's successor, Yasuo Fukuda (who was deeply opposed to the Iraq War, and told US officials so in the spring of 2007, prior to unexpectedly taking over from Abe) simply tabled the commission's report, knowing it was politically dead at that moment.

On the other side, interest grew in the view espoused by DPJ strongman Ichiro Ozawa: Japan could engage in collective self-defense operations, including combat, as long as the missions were sanctioned by the UN Security Council. The requirement of UN authorization, in Ozawa's view, would provide Japan with a clear legal framework to guide its actions, would help convince neighboring countries that Japanese actions were not aggressive, and would provide a buffer between Japanese decision makers and American pressure.

There is a broad consensus in Japan today that the country should be more engaged in international security operations, as evidenced by the presence of Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces in Pakistan today, and by the presence of Maritime Self-Defense Forces in the Arabian Sea engaged in anti-piracy missions. The DPJ governments have chosen to not label these as "collective self-defense" missions, but they are just that, in fact.

Today in Tokyo, many see the unrelenting US pressure for construction of a Futenma replacement facility on Okinawa, and the rude treatment accorded Japanese political leaders who dare to voice a different view, as a continuation of the pressure tactics demonstrated during the Indian Ocean refueling operations in 2007. It's Iraq War-style unilateralism in a different form.

Thus the continuing calls in Japan for greater "equality" in the alliance - a legacy, at least in part, of US policy in Iraq.

Peter Ennis is long-time chronicler and analyst of Japan and US-Japan relations who maintains the blog Dispatch Japan.

PanOrient News