[NYTr] Cheney Goes to Asia to Hunt for Allies in Iraq War

[nytr at olm.blythe-systems.com]

Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

Chney Goes to Asia to Hunt for Allies in the War on Iraq

Tokyo, Feb 19 (Prensa Latina) With the US strategy for Iraq in crisis at
home, US Vice President Dick Cheney will tour Japan and Australia, its
closest allies in the Pacific, to drum up support.

Cheney will stay three days in Japan, where he has no intention of meeting
with Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma who recently said the US policy in Iraq
was wrong, but will talk with Emperor Akishino and Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe, who pledged to reinforce military ties with the United States.

Japan signed a bilateral security treaty with Washington, under which
troops would back each other in case of an attack.

Prime Minister Abe considers the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction, terrorism and assembling an army able to participate in
overseas conflict are enough to reform the pacifist Japanese Constitution.

The visit to Japan occurs amid tension caused by a recent US congressional
condemnation of sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II
and calls for Tokyo to admit the abuses and apologize.

Over 200,000 women from the Philippines, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia
and the Korean Peninsula were victims of the abuses from 1939 to 1945.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso voiced his disagreement and called the
initiative regrettable and groundless, in line with the long Japanese
denial of responsibility except where clear evidence exists of criminal
behavior by the authorities.

hr ccs emw dor PL-42