From George Bush’s playbook. If Congress won’t give you what you want-just ignore them.
The new Prime Minister has drafted a new version of the Special Anti-terrorism law-the one that allows JMSDF oilers (unlike our navy properly manned by Sailors) to refuel coalition ships in the Indian Ocean.
Kenji Yamaoka, Diet affairs chief of the Democratic Party of Japan, slammed the bill, saying it was full of problems and does not reflect public opinion
The new bill, a key goal for Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda in the present extraordinary Diet session, is intended to replace the current special antiterrorism law, which expires Nov. 1.
Unlike the current legislation, which requires Diet approval to dispatch the MSDF, the new bill omits this condition. Instead, there needs to be Cabinet approval of an “implementation plan” that lays out the basic policies and reports any plan changes to the Diet.
With the Diet divided — the ruling bloc holding a large majority in the Lower House while the Upper House is under DPJ-led opposition control — the ruling bloc has been desperately seeking a way to continue the MSDF activities.
The idea of avoiding Diet approval is crucial since the Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) is seeking to use this issue to impose a defeat on Fukuda and hopefully build support for an early election.
The current mission expires Nov. 1. The new bill, to be approved later Wednesday by the Cabinet, was to go to the Diet, or parliament, for a plenary vote, ruling party and government officials said. The bill goes to the lower house first. DPJ will try to slow the bill down-but the smart money says they cannot defeat it.
Its important to remember that this flap is really about local politics here in Japan and not about where the fuel came from or is going. Here is why:
More fuel was consumed on OEF missions than the amount of fuel Japan contributed. The entire Japanese contribution can be accounted for by fuel used by ships engaged in Operation Enduring Freedom.
- All refueling by JMSDF oilers occurred within the area that Japan established for its operations in support of OEF, an area that is entirely within the U.S. OEF area of operations. Additionally, JMSDF personnel worked closely with U.S. personnel in assigning refueling missions and were able to ensure that only ships conducting appropriate missions received Japanese fuel.
- From December 2001 through February 2003, the period from the initial Japanese provision of fuel to U.S. Navy vessels through the last full month prior to the start of the war in Iraq, the JMSDF provided approximately 74,000,000 (74,115,281) gallons (280,526,340 liters) of fuel to U.S. and other coalition vessels, or approximately 5,000,000 (4,941,018) gallons (18,703,790 liters) of fuel per month. During the same period, the total fuel consumption by coalition ships in the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of operations was approximately 400,000,000 (378,963,102) gallons (1,434,533,748 liters), or approximately 25,000,000 (25,264,207) gallons (95,635,583 liters) per month. Thus, fuel provided by the JMSDF accounted for 19.6% of the total amount of fuel consumed by coalition vessels during this 15-month period.
- Data for the subsequent 55-month period shows that the JMSDF provided approximately 53,000,000 (52,811,768) gallons (199,914,617 liters) of fuel to OEF coalition vessels during this time, or approximately 960,000 (960,214) gallons (3,634,811 liters) per month. Total fuel consumption during this same period by coalition ships in the CENTCOM area of operations was approximately 728,000,000 (728,334,096) gallons (2,757,048,997 liters), or approximately 13,200,000 (13,242,438) gallons (50,128,164 liters) per month. Thus, fuel from the JMSDF accounted for 7.3% of the total amount of fuel consumed by coalition vessels during this period.
However, here in Japan people make little distinction between Iraq and Afghanistan and Iraq is very, VERY unpopular. So its pretty clear the mission will not get renewed before 1 November 2007. The DPJ has to get its members on TV shouting in the Diet.
Stay tuned for more developments.