ID :
36841
Sun, 12/21/2008 - 21:34
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/36841
The shortlink copeid
Gov't to hold panel meeting to discuss civilian control of SDF+
TOKYO, Dec. 21 Kyodo - The government plans to hold a panel meeting, possibly on Thursday, to discuss
civilian control of the Self-Defense Forces following the public uproar over
former Air Self-Defense Force chief Gen. Toshio Tamogami's controversial essay,
government sources said Sunday.
A government panel produced a report in July on plans to reform the Defense
Ministry in the wake of a series of scandals linked to the ministry and the
SDF, including corruption involving former Vice Defense Minister Takemasa
Moriya.
But since Tamogami's essay, decrying Tokyo's stance of admitting to Japan's
wartime atrocities, and his subsequent remarks have grabbed the headlines,
doubts have been cast over the report's conclusion that civilian control has
been fully internalized by the SDF.
The panel, set up at the prime minister's office, is expected to discuss a
possible review of the education program for ranking SDF officers among other
issues, the sources said.
As principal of the Joint Staff College, Tamogami started a new course on
''views on history and the nation'' in 2003, inviting as lecturers academics
whose way of thinking has been described by Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada as
''prejudiced toward the extreme right.''
Critics fear that views similar to Tamogami's may have found a wide audience
among many ranking officers, partly because the same lecturers continued to
teach the course in following years.
Hamada has since made clear his intention to consider changes, including
abolition of the course, while SDF Chief of Staff Adm. Takashi Saito has
acknowledged the inappropriateness of the lecturers selected and has referred
to the need to review the course.
Meanwhile, former ASDF Chief of Staff Tamogami, who has since retired, raised
hackles again on Sunday, dismissing the significance of a Nagoya High Court
ruling in April that declared the just-concluded ASDF airlift operations in
Iraq unconstitutional.
''That (the ruling) doesn't matter,'' the 60-year-old ex-general told a press
conference in Nagoya, borrowing again a phrase popularized by a slapstick
comedian.
Tamogami was sacked in late October over the essay in which he argued Japan was
a benevolent colonial ruler and not an aggressor before or during World War II.
The government has continued to follow a 1995 statement by then Prime Minister
Tomiichi Murayama stating that Japan inflicted tremendous damage and suffering
on Asian and other countries ''through its colonial rule and aggression.''
==Kyodo
2008-12-21 20:20:12
civilian control of the Self-Defense Forces following the public uproar over
former Air Self-Defense Force chief Gen. Toshio Tamogami's controversial essay,
government sources said Sunday.
A government panel produced a report in July on plans to reform the Defense
Ministry in the wake of a series of scandals linked to the ministry and the
SDF, including corruption involving former Vice Defense Minister Takemasa
Moriya.
But since Tamogami's essay, decrying Tokyo's stance of admitting to Japan's
wartime atrocities, and his subsequent remarks have grabbed the headlines,
doubts have been cast over the report's conclusion that civilian control has
been fully internalized by the SDF.
The panel, set up at the prime minister's office, is expected to discuss a
possible review of the education program for ranking SDF officers among other
issues, the sources said.
As principal of the Joint Staff College, Tamogami started a new course on
''views on history and the nation'' in 2003, inviting as lecturers academics
whose way of thinking has been described by Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada as
''prejudiced toward the extreme right.''
Critics fear that views similar to Tamogami's may have found a wide audience
among many ranking officers, partly because the same lecturers continued to
teach the course in following years.
Hamada has since made clear his intention to consider changes, including
abolition of the course, while SDF Chief of Staff Adm. Takashi Saito has
acknowledged the inappropriateness of the lecturers selected and has referred
to the need to review the course.
Meanwhile, former ASDF Chief of Staff Tamogami, who has since retired, raised
hackles again on Sunday, dismissing the significance of a Nagoya High Court
ruling in April that declared the just-concluded ASDF airlift operations in
Iraq unconstitutional.
''That (the ruling) doesn't matter,'' the 60-year-old ex-general told a press
conference in Nagoya, borrowing again a phrase popularized by a slapstick
comedian.
Tamogami was sacked in late October over the essay in which he argued Japan was
a benevolent colonial ruler and not an aggressor before or during World War II.
The government has continued to follow a 1995 statement by then Prime Minister
Tomiichi Murayama stating that Japan inflicted tremendous damage and suffering
on Asian and other countries ''through its colonial rule and aggression.''
==Kyodo
2008-12-21 20:20:12
