ITALY

ITALY
Corriere della Sera, Milan, June 20: Iraq knows little about the culture of mercy.
In the prosecution of Saddam Hussein, it would have been better ... to entrust his fate to an international tribunal and to postpone the Iraqis' ability to administer justice until better times. If Belgrade is not ready yet, it is hard to believe Baghdad is.
Saddam the martyr?
The execution of Saddam would automatically turn him into a martyr and a point of reference in social, ethnic, and religious sectors (not only the terrorists) which would be driven to think, "It was better when it was worse."
Would executing Saddam reopen wounds that won't heal? Would it not rain accusations of little independence of the court? ... Would one not risk fueling the paradoxical myth of Saddam as a victim, a "victim" who created thousands of real victims?
If the death penalty is handed down by the court ... to execute him would be an error. Because a defeated and imprisoned Saddam would be much less dangerous than a dead one.
JAPAN
Yomiuri Shimbun, Tokyo, June 21: The government's decision to withdraw Ground Self-Defense Force personnel from Iraq signifies only the end of an opening chapter in Japan's assistance for that country's reconstruction.
Success in rebuilding Iraq is vitally important for Japan, a nation that relies on the Middle East for close to 90 percent of its crude oil imports.
In response to a request from U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan for Japan to assist in U.N. transport activities, the government intends to continue and expand the Air Self-Defense Force's support operation.
Development assistance
It also will be necessary for Japan to increase aid to Iraq through its official development assistance. The government has already said it will extend a total of 5 billion dollars in aid to Iraq, including 1.5 billion dollars in grants-in-aid.
It is essential that Japan continue international peace cooperation activities by the SDF for the purpose of ensuring the peace and stability of the international community.
In order to swiftly deal with each new emergency that may arise, the government must hasten the creation of a permanent law on the SDF's international peace cooperation activities.
Efforts to establish a permanent law covering Japan's international peace cooperation activities constitute a task to be tackled by the government that takes over the reins of the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
BRITAIN
Daily Telegraph, London, June 21: North Korea, a small, maverick nation that cannot even feed its own people, has the disconcerting ability to alter the balance of power in East Asia. It showed this in 1998, when it fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile over the main island of Japan. And it appears to be on the brink of doing so again, with the launch of a long-range version of that rocket.
The first test shook Japanese complacency about its pacifist constitution and the American nuclear umbrella. Tokyo has since increased co-operation with Washington over theatre missile defence, deployed troops in Iraq, sent naval vessels to the Indian Ocean in support of American operations in Afghanistan, and declared that the future of Taiwan is a national security concern. Last year, the prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, proposed amending the constitution, with the aim of increasing the self-defence forces' overseas role.
Japan's military profile
A test-firing of the long-range Taepodong 2 would push Japan's military profile even higher. It would further stimulate the development of missile defence and strengthen the hand of those who want to change Article 9 of the 1947 constitution, which confirms Japan's commitment to peace. It would also encourage the Right to push for reconsideration of the country's policy on nuclear weapons. These are not specifically banned under Article 9. Rather, Japanese governments have been guided by three non-nuclear principles - neither to possess nor manufacture nor store such weapons -- adopted by the Diet in 1971.