Cooling The Executive

It appears that yet another block is to be pulled out of the already rickety Jenga tower that is the Bush administration's "War on Terror". The International Herald Tribune reports that the Japanese Cabinet is unlikely to obtain legislative support for it's new anti-terrorism bill by November 1 (story here) . While the bill will certainly be passed eventually, the delay means that the refueling mission in support of NATO operations in Afghanistan being carried out by Japan in the Indian Ocean will have to be interrupted.

Reauthorization of the mission is necessitated by Nov. 1 in order for it to continue but because that permission is tied into the anti-terror bill, which is certain to be stalled in legislation well beyond that deadline, the Japanese ships are set to sail home Nov.2.

This is an interesting development considering the recent cooperation between Japan and the US in provoking China (see my recent posts). My guess is that the needling measures were undertaken unilaterally by the executive powers of both countries and this legislative impediment by the Japanese parliament is a way of reigning in its executive branch on cooperation with Bush administration lunacy.