Bush's vaunted coalition of the willing lost another member today. This time Japan is ordering its ships back home instead of helping to refuel coalition warships. Various news outlets are beginning to report the news, though you won't see it here in America unless you read that terribly liberal New York Times. We wouldn't want to hear the truth or anything like that, now would we?
So here it is from the Japan Times:
Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba ordered ships operating in the Indian Ocean in support of U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan to return home Thursday after opposition lawmakers refused to support an extension of the mission, saying it violated the Constitution.
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda meanwhile issued a statement stressing that the Maritime Self-Defense Force activities in the Indian Ocean have been highly praised by other countries.
Resuming the supply of fuel and water to multinational naval ships in the Indian Ocean is necessary, Fukuda said in the statement, and promised to do everything in his power to restart the mission as soon as possible.
Violating the constitution eh? Don't we have one of those documents here somewhere?
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