In a Feb. 10 ceremony held at the start of a nine-day joint combat drill in Miyagi Prefecture between the Ground Self-Defense Force and the U.S. Army, Col. Takeshi Nakazawa, commander of the 44th Infantry Regiment of the GSDF's Sixth Division, said, "(The Japan-U.S.) alliance cannot be maintained by diplomacy or flowery political words, much less by only a phrase such as 'Trust me.' "
After his remarks were reported, the Ground Staff Office's public information section said that Col. Nakazawa's words were not meant as a reference to or criticism of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. In November, Mr. Hatoyama reportedly said "Trust me" to U.S. President Barack Obama, in reference to the issue of the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Air Station Futenma on Okinawa Island.
Whatever might have been in the colonel's mind, it is not far-fetched to suspect that he meant to ridicule and disparage Mr. Hatoyama, who is commander-in-chief of the Self-Defense Forces. Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa on Feb. 12 expressed his intention to discipline the colonel under the civilian control principles of the SDF, and the Defense Ministry on the same day admonished the colonel in writing. In taking the punitive action, the ministry said that the remarks could be interpreted as being judgmental of the prime minister and making light of politics and diplomacy.