Exit Demands

Hot on the heels of West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd's call for America to devlop an "exit strategy" for Iraq, a group calling itself the Mujahideen Brigades has demanded Japan immediately withdraw its (non-combat) forces from the war-torn nation.

As incentive, they've threatened to burn 3 Japanese hostages alive should Japan not comply.

Elsewhere in Iraq, Marines are negotiating with leaders in Fallujah

``I would not describe this as a cease-fire. We are still aggressively defending our positions. However we have ceased offensive operations for now,'' (on scene bn commander LtC) Byrne said.

U.S. troops fanned out across Kut, southeast of Baghdad, after meeting little resistance in the city, witnesses said, in a major foray by the American military into the south, where U.S. allies have struggled to deal with the uprising by the al-Mahdi Army, led by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

"meeting little resistance" being a key statement. Has the Sadr "militia" witdrawn to fight another day?

Meanwhile, in Japan,

Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, meanwhile, vowed not to withdraw 530 troops doing reconstruction work in the south after kidnappers threatened to burn three Japanese captives alive.

Elsewhere in Tokyo, "hundreds of demonstrators" received media coverage in this city of 12-million-plus by calling for immediate capitulation by the government to the demands of the kidnappers in Iraq.

This number may grow as Tokyo stock markets fell on word of events in Iraq.

Who are these hostages?

Shuichi Takato, the younger brother of 34-year-old hostage Nahoko Takato, left his home in Hokkaido for Tokyo shortly before 7 a.m. "I want the government to try to solve the crisis immediately," he said. "I want the withdrawal of the SDF if it leads to the release of the hostages."

Nahoko Takato was reportedly engaged in volunteer activities for children in the war-devastated country.

Naoko Imai, mother of 18-year-old hostage Noriaki Imai, his father and elder brother left their home in Sapporo at about 5:30 a.m.

"I couldn't sleep at all. I want to make a cry for help to rescue my child and the other hostages," the mother said.

Imai's father said that his son, who was a leading member of an anti-nuclear weapons campaign group, was investigating how depleted uranium bullets used in the conflict in Iraq adversely affected local people.

The mother of the third hostage, journalist Soichiro Koriyama, also came to Tokyo from Miyazaki Prefecture for the meeting.

On the same day in Tokyo, non-governmental organization members and peace activists gathered around the Nagatacho district, where the headquarters of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party is located, and demanded the SDF be called back from Iraq.

"Is the government going to keep the SDF in Iraq and abandon the civilian hostages?" asked lawyer Kazuko Ito, who works for Imai's activist group.

Update: Coincidentally,

Vice President Dick Cheney is scheduled to leave today on a seven-day trip to Asia, where he will discuss North Korea, Taiwan and trade with Chinese leaders.

Mr. Cheney will travel to Beijing and Shanghai and is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao and former President Jiang Zemin, who still controls the Chinese military, according to a senior Bush administration official.

North Korea's nuclear-weapons program will be discussed during stops in China, Japan and South Korea, the senior official said.

Expect there will be many more topics on the table. And be sure the kidnappers in Iraq will be aware of this visit. Do you think anti-US/anti-government factions in Japan (and elsewhere) might organize a welcome?

Developing