After bin Laden's death, war on terrorism goes on
Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, who had been hunted as the mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, was killed by U.S. forces Monday.
The 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon near Washington claimed the lives of about 3,000 people, including 24 Japanese. The United States determined the attacks to have been acts of Al-Qaida, an international terrorist group, and made all-out efforts to capture its leader bin Laden.
Bin Laden was long believed to be hiding out in an area along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. But his hideout unexpectedly turned out to be in the outskirts of Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.
The death of the mastermind was a major result of "the war on terrorism" led by the United States. U.S. President Barack Obama said, "Justice has been done."
Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the successful U.S. action represented a "remarkable step forward in the antiterrorism campaign."
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Retaliation feared
But it is too early to conclude that terrorism will end with the death of bin Laden. On the contrary, the possibility of terrorist attacks in retaliation against the slaying of bin Laden is feared to increase.
The international community--above all the United States--must take care not to relax its vigilance against terrorist threats. Naturally, Japan too must take measures such as bolstering security arrangements around Self-Defense Forces bases.
The slaying of bin Laden is the fruit of a nearly decadelong U.S. manhunt. It is little wonder that upon hearing Obama's announcement of the killing of bin Laden, crowds of jubilant citizens gathered outside the White House in celebration.
But as Obama himself stated, the war on terrorism will continue.
The terrorist group, which espouses bin Laden's belief that the killing of Americans is an obligation of Islamists, has expanded over a wide area extending from North Africa to Southeast Asia. Sympathizers have emerged even in the United States and European countries.
There is even a concern that the number of bin Laden's followers will increase as his death will be regarded as that of a martyr.
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Deep anti-U.S. sentiment
In the Islamic world, there is deep-rooted antipathy against the United States, which went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq while trumpeting the slogan of "the war against terrorism." It would be unfortunate if the killing of bin Laden spurred further anti-U.S. sentiment.
In Afghanistan, the moves of the Taliban, an antigovernment Islamist militant group strongly influenced by bin Laden, are of serious concern.
Washington needs to responsibly bring stability to Afghanistan and Iraq. Doing so could enhance the credibility of the United States.
Pro-democracy movements have been growing in the Middle East and North Africa. Most autocratic leaders in these areas have supported U.S.-led terrorist cleanup operations.
The international community needs to see how the democratization movements and the slaying of bin Laden will affect the future of the war on terrorism.
Kan must deliver on policy-reform promises
The Diet on Monday enacted this fiscal year's first supplementary budget, worth more than 4 trillion yen.
Incorporated into the extra budget are the restoration of roads and ports, the disposal of debris and other urgent projects linked to recovery from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
The ruling and opposition parties cooperated for early enactment of the budget, engaging in deliberations during the Golden Week holiday period.
As many as 126,000 residents of disaster-hit areas are still living in emergency shelters. Prime Minister Naoto Kan has pledged all evacuees will be able to move into temporary housing "before the start of the Bon holidays" in mid-August. To meet this commitment, the government will have to ensure the construction of temporary housing continues apace.
The two main opposition parties, the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito, strongly opposed the supplementary budget at first. They felt revising allocations to the monthly child allowance had not been given enough consideration; and they objected to the diversion of 2.5 trillion yen from a fund intended to maintain the government's basic pension contributions to 50 percent for the current fiscal year.
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3-party pact must be honored
The two parties eventually threw their support behind the extra budget, however, after the ruling Democratic Party of Japan in late April promised to effect a major overhaul of government policies.
Under an agreement reached by the three parties, the DPJ and the government were to "waste no time" in reviewing key policies--such as the child allowance and making expressways toll-free--and announce "as soon as possible" the specifics of Kan's plan for integrated reform of the social security and tax systems.
To secure the support of the LDP and New Komeito for a second supplementary budget that will likely be compiled in summer, the Kan administration should start by living up to the commitments it made under the three-party accord and make major adjustments to its cash-handout policies stipulated in its 2009 election manifesto.
The second supplementary budget is expected to call for far greater expenditure on emergency measures than the first. The question is, how will the funds needed to finance the second extra budget be secured?
Issuing government bonds tied exclusively to post-disaster reconstruction projects is being considered within the government and ruling parties. But given the colossal fiscal deficit, relying on this measure alone would shake financial markets' trust in the government. To avoid this, it is imperative that the government raise taxes in one way or another.
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Tax hike unavoidable
Raising the rate of personal income tax or corporate tax has also been suggested, but the revenue gains provided by such a move would be insufficient.
The government must focus on raising the consumption tax rate, which will result in the burden of reconstruction costs being shared by the public as a whole, and provide a significant boost to government revenues.
Raising the consumption tax could also help the government realize its envisioned tax and social security reforms.
Serious discussion about a consumption tax hike will likely meet with objections from within the DPJ. In particular, DPJ lawmakers close to party heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa will try to use the issue as leverage against Kan, with the goal of having him resign as prime minister.
But Kan shying away from policy reform on a major scale, as called for in the agreement with the LDP and New Komeito, will surely antagonize the two opposition parties and make it tough for the government to get their support for the second supplementary budget.
To extricate himself from this situation, the prime minister has no option but to lead from the front and do his best to persuade DPJ lawmakers to back him.
Kan should address the challenge of fulfilling the three-party agreement with the understanding that his political career is at stake.
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