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Iraq's top envoy to Japan Wednesday warned that Tokyo's support for a US-led war against Iraq will jeopardize its interests in Iraq and possibly the rest of the Arab world.
Qasim A. Shakir, charge d'affaires at the Embassy of Iraq in Tokyo, accused the United States of attempting to change the political map of the region of the Middle East other than destroying weapons of mass destruction.
The envoy made the remarks after Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Tuesday that he supports US President George W. Bush's ultimatum giving Iraqi President Saddam Hussein 48 hours to go into exile or face war.
According to Kyodo, the prime minister said Japan will not send troops to Iraq to fight in the event of war due to the nation's war-renouncing constitution.
He did not elaborate on what kind of support Japan can lend to help rehabilitate a post-Saddam Iraq.
Japan depends its oil supply heavily on import, with 86 percentof it coming from the Middle East.
(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2003)
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