Regarding the Oct. 15 editorial "Full military disclosure": While I can appreciate the constraints placed on Japan's Air-Self Defense Force mission in Iraq, many people seem to have forgotten that Iraq was a very dangerous place for much of the period from March 2004 to December 2008.
For soldiers, carrying weapons wasn't just a good idea, it was mandatory for self-defense. And if the proportion of people transported by ASDF aircraft was heavily weighted toward the military, a large part of the reason may have been that, for much of those four-plus years, U.N. personnel couldn't go out into the cities or travel around without someone to protect them. And a single soldier was not enough; several soldiers were required to protect each aid worker.
The military was there to protect U.N. and NGO personnel, to ensure that the humanitarian mission could actually happen. Without the soldiers, the entire relief and support effort would have gone up in flames, and Iraq would now be a disaster. ASDF personnel successfully supported the overall recovery effort and showed they could excel in a dangerous environment. Their outstanding execution of the mission is something that levelheaded Japanese can be proud of. Japan cannot continue to remain above the problems of the rest of the world.