Japan refuses to pull troops from Iraq as hostage faces execution

TOKYO – Japan insisted yesterday it would not bow to the demands of Islamic militants in Iraq who threatened to behead a young Japanese drifter unless Tokyo pulled its troops from the country within 48 hours.

“The Self-Defence Forces will not withdraw,” Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, a staunch US ally, said as he went ahead with a tour of typhoon damage in western Japan. “We must not bow to terrorism.”The al Qaeda-linked group of Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi in a video released late on Tuesday on the Internet showed a shaggy-haired Japanese-speaking man in a white T-shirt at the feet of three armed and masked men.”We are giving the Japanese government 48 hours in which to withdraw its troops from Iraq, otherwise this infidel will join the others (executed),” a militant said in the video.Among the “others”, the militant mentioned the American Nicholas Berg and Briton Kenneth Bigley, who were both executed by the Zarqawi group.The Japanese man, whose head was at one point held up by a kidnapper, said on the video: “Mr Koizumi, they demand the Japanese government withdraw the Japanese Self-Defence Forces from Iraq or they will chop off my head.””I’m sorry, but I want to come back to Japan,” he said in Japanese.Japan identified the hostage as Shosei Koda, a 24-year-old from southern Fukuoka province who “has been wandering around many countries,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda, the government spokesman.Koda’s father told public broadcaster NHK that his son left Japan for New Zealand early this year and his whereabouts had since been unknown.The network said Japan informed Koda’s family three days ago that it had learned the man entered Iraq and relatives tried unsuccessfully to contact him.Documentary filmmaker Hiroshi Shinomiya said he met Koda at a hotel in the Jordanian capital Amman on October 19 and he told him he was going to Iraq the next day “simply because he wanted to see it.””I told him you should not go, but he replied saying, ‘No, I’ll be just fine,’” Shinomiya said.Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura appealed for Koda’s release over the Arabic satellite network al-Jazeera, saying he had “absolutely nothing to do with” the Japanese government and military.It was the second hostage crisis faced by Koizumi, a close supporter of US President George W.Bush, since his historic decision to deploy troops to Iraq over widespread domestic opposition.- Nampa-AFP”We must not bow to terrorism.”The al Qaeda-linked group of Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi in a video released late on Tuesday on the Internet showed a shaggy-haired Japanese-speaking man in a white T-shirt at the feet of three armed and masked men.”We are giving the Japanese government 48 hours in which to withdraw its troops from Iraq, otherwise this infidel will join the others (executed),” a militant said in the video.Among the “others”, the militant mentioned the American Nicholas Berg and Briton Kenneth Bigley, who were both executed by the Zarqawi group.The Japanese man, whose head was at one point held up by a kidnapper, said on the video: “Mr Koizumi, they demand the Japanese government withdraw the Japanese Self-Defence Forces from Iraq or they will chop off my head.””I’m sorry, but I want to come back to Japan,” he said in Japanese.Japan identified the hostage as Shosei Koda, a 24-year-old from southern Fukuoka province who “has been wandering around many countries,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda, the government spokesman.Koda’s father told public broadcaster NHK that his son left Japan for New Zealand early this year and his whereabouts had since been unknown.The network said Japan informed Koda’s family three days ago that it had learned the man entered Iraq and relatives tried unsuccessfully to contact him.Documentary filmmaker Hiroshi Shinomiya said he met Koda at a hotel in the Jordanian capital Amman on October 19 and he told him he was going to Iraq the next day “simply because he wanted to see it.””I told him you should not go, but he replied saying, ‘No, I’ll be just fine,’” Shinomiya said.Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura appealed for Koda’s release over the Arabic satellite network al-Jazeera, saying he had “absolutely nothing to do with” the Japanese government and military.It was the second hostage crisis faced by Koizumi, a close supporter of US President George W.Bush, since his historic decision to deploy troops to Iraq over widespread domestic opposition.- Nampa-AFP