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"GFJ Commentary"
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"GFJ Commentary" presents views of members of GFJ on the relations of Japan with the rest of the world and other related international affairs. The view expressed herein is the author's own and should not be attributed to GFJ.
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Is Osama Bin Laden a Criminal or a Hero?
By ITO Masanori
Company Worker and Individual Member of the Japan Forum
on International Relations
Without doubt, Osama Bin Laden is a criminal since he repeatedly executed illegal terrorism, violent murders, illegitimate destructive activities, etc. However, we must not forget at the same time why he committed such criminal conducts as well. Since the Gulf War, the U.S. military presence in the Middle East had become all the more evident, the motivation of which was the hidden aim of securing energy resources, namely petroleum. While "overthrow of the dictator Saddam Hussein" and "development and deployment of mass-destruction weapons" were adopted as excuses to attack Iraq, virtually no measures have been taken against North Korea, who lacks in attractive energy resources, in spite of her actual involvement in nuclear development.
Though employing the slogans of "democratization" and "freedom" on one hand, the U.S. in fact has coerced "the justice convenient to the U.S." on the other. Acknowledging such dictators as Mubarak and Qaddafi as well as such a dictatorship as Saudi Arabia if they are pro-U.S., the U.S. "struck down" those who were anti-U.S., thus repeatedly employing a double standard. It is not beyond our understanding that resentment against such an attitude of the U.S. had spread among Arab people. Therefore, it is also undeniable that a certain number of Arab people sympathize with him or worship him as a hero. We are reminded of the response and feeling of some Arab people to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2011, shouting, "we finally counterattacked the superpower, the United States!"
Nevertheless, we cannot tolerate the conducts by Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, who have repeatedly carried out indiscriminate terrors all over the world. What they did was enforcement of the pre-modern and anachronistic Islam fundamentalism they worshipped to secular Muslims and unrelated public who wished to adapt themselves to the Western world and its modernization. It was as brutal as, or more brutal than, the "aggression" and "dominance" by the U.S. imperialism they hated. Their terrorist attacks, which were conducted without advance notification or claim for responsibility, were more inhumane and shameful than the attacks by the U.S. military forces.
If Bin Laden had had frustration against the superpower status of the U.S., he should have fought squarely in the public with a legal and peaceful method, which was understood and accepted by the public. Young people in Tunisia and Egypt, taking advantage of Twitter's retweet and spread as well as Facebook, succeeded in mobilizing people for demonstrations and meetings and reorienting the mind of the military. And they finally defeated the pro-U.S. dictatorial regimes. Now that Bin Laden is dead, it is of no use for us to demand his reform. But if the U.S. had captured him alive and offered him a fair trial in a third country neither pro-U.S. nor Islam, we might have been able to see Bin Laden speak the unrevealed truth for himself. Even though Bin Laden could not have been captured alive, the truth still missing due to his death should not have been blurred. It would have enabled us to identify him correctly in the world history, not as a "hero" but as a "criminal."
(This is the English translation of an article written by Mr. ITO Masanori, Company Worker and Individual Member of the Japan Forum on International Relations, which originally appeared on the BBS "Giron-Hyakushutsu" of GFJ on May 9, 2011.)
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For more views and opinions in the backnumber of "GFJ Commentary," the latest of which are as follows, please refer to:
http://www.gfj.jp/eng/commentary/backnumber.html
No.36 Now is the Time for the Third Nation Building
by YUSHITA Hiroyuki, former Ambassador to the Philippines
(28 April 2011)
No.35 On "Japan-U.S. Relations in the Era of Smart Power
by YAMAZAWA Ippei, Professor Emeritus of Hitotsubashi University
(1 March 2011)
No.34 Black Joke in Terrorism in Russia
by OOTOMI Akira, Editor in Chief
(28 February 2011)
No.33 Meltdown of Japan
by HAKAMADA Shigeki, Professor, Aoyama Gakuin University
(31 December 2010)
No.32 Is DPJ Capable of Governance?
by OKADA Shoichi, former Corporate Executive
(29 October 2010)
No.31 Ruling DPJ Lacking Majority in Diet and No Good Signs for Coalition; What is Happening in Japanese Politics?
by SUGIURA Masaaki, Political Commentator
(30 August 2010)
"GFJ Updates"
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"GFJ Updates" introduces to you the latest events, announcements and/or publications of GFJ.
Event
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The 70th "Diplomatic Roundtable" meeting on "China and Japan in the Post-Crisis East Asia: Towards an Uncertain Regional Economic Order" Held
JFIR and its two sister organizations, the Global Forum of Japan and the Council on East Asian Community, taking advantage of an occasion of a visit to Japan of a prominent person on international and other affairs, monthly organize a "Diplomatic Roundtable" meeting, which is an informal gathering of members of the three organizations for a frank exchange of views and opinions with the visiting guest. The 70th "Diplomatic Roundtable" meeting was held on July 6, 2011 on the topic of "China and Japan in the Post-Crisis East Asia: Towards an Uncertain Regional Economic Order." An outline of the presentation by Prof. John WONG, Professorial Fellow at East Asian Institute of National University of Singapore, was as follows: ...
For more information, please refer to:
http://www.jfir.or.jp/e/diplomatic_roundtable/70_110705.htm
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