The Japanese hostages released in Iraq are having a harder time in Japan than their kidnappers gave them.
The young Japanese civilians taken hostage in Iraq returned home this week, not to the warmth of a yellow-ribbon embrace but to a disapproving nation's cold stare.
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"You got what you deserve!" read one hand-written sign at the airport where they landed. "You are Japan's shame," another wrote on the Web site of one of the former hostages. They had "caused trouble" for everybody. The government, not to be outdone, announced it would bill the former hostages $6,000 for air fare.
I hope that none of that love the Japanese people are showing these three leads any of them to hurt themselves. How sad. Reading how Koizumi turned all this to his favor politically makes me wonder how the Japanese people will react if some of the Self-Defense Forces get killed/wounded in Iraq. Will the Japanese government charge them for getting themselves hurt in the line of duty? Amazing.
posted by Jo Fish on 04.23.04 at 01:38 AM
Comments:
"Maybe I can best put it this way, why I feel so strongly about this historic moment. I was having dinner with Prime Minister Koizumi, and we were talking about North Korea, about how we can work together to deal with the threat. The North Korea leader is a threat. And here are two friends now discussing what strategy to employ to prevent him from further developing and deploying a nuclear weapon. And it dawned on me that had we blown the peace in World War II, that perhaps this conversation would not have been taking place."
http://www.georgewbush.com/News/Read.aspx?ID=2429
Hmmm...let's see....Sitting with the Prime Minister of Japan, Bush is thinking about "blowing the peace in WWII?"
