I appreciated the critical remarks that Japanese Cabinet ministers recently made about U.S. policy in Iraq, feeling that high-level Japanese officials had finally begun to express their honest opinions. But I was disappointed when the government scrambled to coordinate its views to eliminate any impressions of discord in the Cabinet.

At a Jan. 24 news conference in Tokyo, Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma said "President George W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq on the assumption that nuclear weapons existed there was a mistake." In a Feb. 3 lecture in Kyoto, Foreign Minister Taro Aso characterized U.S. military operations in Iraq under former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as "very naive."

Criticism of the United States' Iraq policy has been growing in Europe and within the U.S., where the Republicans lost their majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives in the 2006 midterm elections. On Feb. 16, the House adopted a resolution opposing a troop buildup in Iraq, with the support of Democrats and some Republicans.

At the end of July, the Japanese special law for aiding postwar reconstruction in Iraq will expire. The law has allowed the Air Self-Defense Force to carry out transport activities in support of U.S. forces in Iraq.

The Japanese government should now review the security alliance with the U.S. and its aid to Iraq, instead of trying to curb dissent in the Cabinet. If it continues to blindly follow the Bush administration, the government will lose more public support.

Public distrust of politics is growing, especially over government moves to use, as leverage, new subsidies to communities affected by the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan. The moves have come amid increasing doubts over the implementation of the final Japan-U.S. agreement on the realignment, which was endorsed by the Cabinet in May 2006.

Municipal authorities at Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, have expressed opposition to a U.S. plan to transfer carrier-based aircraft to the Iwakuni Marine Corps Air Station, citing the "no" vote on the plan in a referendum.

Meanwhile, discord between Okinawa Prefecture and the government is growing over the proposed relocation of Futenma U.S. Marine Corps Air Station. The new governor demands the closure of the facility within three years, while the mayor of Nago, where the base is to be relocated, insists on a revision of an agreed plan to construct V-shaped airstrips.

The cities of Iwakuni and Nago are likely to receive discriminatory treatment from the government over the new subsidies.

The government is trying to rein in opposition from local governments on the grounds that security is strictly under its jurisdiction. However, it should not be forgotten that Japan was defeated in World War II mainly because the military-led government carried out an invasion of continental China and launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor after suppressing public opposition. Before and during the war, "thought police" were used to force the public to obey government policies. Now money is used for the same purpose. The government should use reason, not money, to win the understanding of local governments concerning the U.S. military presence.

Legislation to promote U.S. military realignment in Japan includes provisions that allow the government-backed Japan Bank for International Cooperation to provide investment funds or loans to help pay for the cost of transferring U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam. Although Japan has agreed to pay $6.09 billion of the transfer costs, that amount was allegedly determined by U.S. calculations. Data for the calculations should be closely examined.

Furthermore, government officials should explain before the Diet why Japan must give the U.S., the world's top economic powerhouse, a long-term loan of more than 40 years in connection with the relocation even as Japan faces a fiscal crisis and social security cutbacks.

To facilitate the military realignment in Japan, U.S. base authorities are pushing efforts to promote friendship with local communities and this is a welcome trend. In Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, where resistance is growing to the proposed deployment of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at the U.S. naval base there, the mayor and the U.S. Navy commander agreed Feb. 14 to hold a morning market inside the base compound once every month or so to sell farm produce grown in the city.

On Feb. 17, an open discussion was held in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, on problems with the U.S. military presence. The meeting was sponsored by a local citizens' council, headed by the mayor, for promoting the reversion of U.S. military bases. Panelists included Col. David E. Hunter-Chester of the U.S. Army Japan command as well as the director of the Yokohama Defense Facilities Bureau of the Defense Ministry, a progovernment college professor, a representative of a nongovernmental organization campaigning for peace and disarmament, and the director of the local citizens' council. It was the first time in Sagamihara, a city with a U.S. military base, that officials from the U.S. armed forces and the Defense Ministry attended such a citizens' meeting.

Looking at the list of panelists, I had expected heated debate, but nothing like that happened. Also present was a Japanese activist who stages a weekly sit-in at the front gate of U.S. Camp Zama to protest the U.S. military presence. There was no heckling and no confusion, probably because the audience was satisfied that open discussions were being held between anti- and pro-U.S.-military groups. There was even a feeling that the two camps understood each other to some extent.

The audience apparently liked the fact that Hunter-Chester, who has lived in Japan more than 10 years including as a high school student, spoke mostly in Japanese. As the meeting closed, somebody in the audience shouted to him in Japanese, "Come to the next session in civilian clothes." He seemed a bit perplexed. I think it was a constructive proposal.

Many Japanese feel that U.S. forces in Japan are taking advantage of their privileges under the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement. The request that the officer attend the next meeting wearing civilian clothes symbolizes citizens' hope that the U.S. military will deal with Japanese residents around U.S. military bases from a civilian standpoint. I share the same hope.