The 9/11 terrorist attacks five years ago added a new page to world history, posing a new threat to global security. Following the attacks, the Bush administration in the United States demanded that the international community choose between democracy and dictatorship, between good and evil. Calling for eradication of terrorism and abolition of weapons of mass destruction, the administration has pursued a hardline policy in the Afghan and Iraq wars and over Iran's nuclear ambitions.
The Bush administration's strategy of trying to spread U.S.-style democracy in the Middle East has angered not only Arab nations but the entire Islamic community, including in Asia and Africa.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's five-year rule has coincided with the Bush administration's new diplomatic initiatives. Japanese diplomatic and security policies have dramatically changed, underscoring the Japan-U.S. alliance in the world and providing justification for the dispatch of Self-Defense Force ships to the Indian Ocean and ground troops to Iraq to support allied forces in the war against terrorism.