Iraqi expat denies role in Japan's reported 'protection money' scheme
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Abdul Amir al-Rikabi, held to be a key figure in a reported multi-million dollar deal between the Japanese government and Iraqi 'tribal leaders' to provide protection for Japan's Self Defence Force (SDF) in Iraq, denies his involvement.
Citing a source in the office of Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the Japanese magazine The Weekly Post reported last week that Mr al-Rikabi had reached an agreement with Mr Koizumi in which Japan would pay 10 billion Yen (US$ 94 million) for the recruitment of local security personnel to guard the base of the Japanese troops in Iraq.
 However, in a letter of January 27 to Mr Koizumi, Mr al-Rikabi states that, when they met in December last year, "we did not deal at all with any financial issue and I have not received from you either previously or subsequently a single yen. Also I have not guaranteed to protect your forces and we have not mentioned this issue in any way at all".
Instead, as Mr al-Rikabi recalls it, his conversation with Mr Koizumi only dealt with two issues. First, "the possibility of a non-American approach to the issue of Iraq by Japan" - that is, "an approach of friendship and cooperation". And, secondly, "the approval of a massive construction programme starting with regeneration of the stricken Al-Ahwar (Marshes) District".
In the letter, Mr al-Rikabi further claims that Mr Koizumi confirmed "Japan's support of the right of Iraqis to hold their independent constitutional conference". He also avows to undertake "legal action" against those who have spread, what he considers "false news", damaging his reputation.
 Mr al-Rikabi concludes his letter to Mr Koizumo with the warning that if Japan's self-defence forces in Iraq do not act according "to the approach of friendship that I discussed with your Excellency" he will consider them as "occupying forces" and, accordingly, "call that [theý] will be treated exactly the same way as the American forces is being treated in Iraq now".
About Mr al-Ribaki
Reportedly the son of a leader of an influential tribe in South Iraq, Abdul Amir al-Rikabi was born in 1947 in Nassiriyah. In 1976, Mr. al-Rikabi left Iraq. Since then, he has been living in Paris, France, as a writer and journalist. In 2002, he co-founded the Iraqi National Alliance, a reformist opposition group involved in negotiations with Saddam's regime. In October 2002, Mr al-Rikabi told a Jordanian newspaper that Iraqi officials had asked him "to head a national coalition government". More recently, Mr al-Rikabi has called for "an independent Iraqi constitutive conference abroad", as he considers the American plan for the transfer of power "a dubious scheme" and a "political debacle" (Al-Ahram Weekly, 26 December 2003).
At the World Social Forum held in Mumbai (Bombay), India, from 16 to 22 January this year, Mr al-Rikabi was one of the key-note speakers at the opening ceremony. As People's Democracy- the Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Vol. XXVII, no 4.) - reports: "[Amir al-Rikabi], while detailing the situation in Iraq, said that time was running out and the people of Iraq needed to be shown that the entire world is with them in their resistance. He said if the US wins in Iraq, it would replicate the same in other parts of the world. He welcomed the decision taken in a Jakarta conference to hold a meeting in Baghdad in near future with the theme “No To Occupation - Yes To Iraqi People”. He ended his speech with the call “Let's go to Basra, Nassiriya, Fallujah and through to Baghdad""
Al-Rikabi's Letter
Published on 03 February 2004 by RISQ
© RISQ | www.risq.org
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