A few drops of tears for Shosei Koda

Shosei Koda was only twenty-four when he heard the call of his heart and crossed the risky road passing through the desert of Jordan and Iraq. But we know twenty-four is not an age to calculate carefully the risks as well as profits and gains of our treacherous life. He also didn't calculate that. He simply wanted to see with his own eyes what his leadership and the media back at home told him about the situation of a country so different and so far from where he had grown up. And as he listened to the call of his heart, he obviously didn't bother about all the warnings and precautions that many at home routinely pronounce to stop people like him to move over to places they consider unsettled and risky.

We now know he was in Baghdad without any preconceived purpose or motive. He was not a member of any of those radical groups demanding the withdrawal of their country's troops from Iraq, which they are think in that troubled land not to help the Iraqis at the time when they are desperately in need of help, but to please the masters who virtually rule over their land supposed to be free to take decisions of its own.

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He also didn't belong to any of those humanitarian organisations whose members routinely risk their life for the greater cause of helping those who are direly in need of such help. He was simply an angry young man of twenty-four, who wanted to see with his own eyes the situation of the land before deciding which side he was to take. Yet he had been branded a terrorist by none other than the person supposed to look after the well-being of country's citizens, more of those who find themselves trapped in a helpless situation.

We now know for sure, Shosei Koda was trying to find an accommodation in Baghdad and as he failed to secure one, he was on his way back to Amman from where he started his ill-fated journey early last week. As Baghdad became a risky place with the arrival of US troops in Iraq, owners of city's numerous hotels, except the very expensive ones, are now closing their doors to foreigners for the fear of being the easy target of city's countless insurgent groups, who are also a wonderful by-product of US occupation and allied presence in the country. As Shosei couldn't afford five-star luxuries with the his hard earned income as a restaurant helping hand in various countries, he had no other option but to return to Amman and think about his further plan afterwards. But when ill luck strikes, things do not happen as we wish.

It is now said that as he was waiting for a bus that would take him back to Amman, two young Iraqis approached him and he followed them to a black car. That was the last time he was seen in public. His next public appearance was in a video footage broadcast by al-Jazeera television where he asked a plain but also a very difficult question to the prime minister of his country and expressed the desire that he wanted to return home. He addressed the Japanese prime minister straightforwardly as Mr. Koizumi and told him that his captors wanted to know why Japanese soldiers were in Iraq. He also didn't forget to let the prime minister know that what he wanted was to return home. It is quite significant that he didn't approach the prime minister to save his life. Maybe the sense of dignity didn't allow him to place himself that low in front of someone he might have rightfully thought lacking the essential quality of understanding the feeling of others who are caught in a helpless situation.

We all now know what Mr. Koizumi reply was to Shosei's simple but difficult question. He outrightly rejected any possibility of negotiation with the terrorists, and by saying so, branded Shosei too nothing more than a terrorist who was disturbing his pleasant nightly sleep. Moreover, the way he expressed his disgust was itself disgusting to look at, as if hate was spilling all over his face. No doubt the kidnappers of Shosei also watched the reaction of the Japanese prime minister and it is most likely at that very moment Shosei's fate was eventually sealed. From then on it was only matter of hours for the beheaded body to be recovered and the police in Baghdad concluded the task that began its formal start with Koizumi's remark.

I remember Shosei's mother addressing a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan last Friday. It was just after the expiration of the deadline set by his captors for the withdrawal of Japanese troops from Iraq and nothing was heard of his fate. The tearful mother only hoped that people would understand that he went to Iraq not to disturb peace but to see for himself the sufferings of the people of the country. And only hours after she spoke at the Press Club, the news came that more than 100,000 Iraqis have been killed in the country since the Americans and their allies, including Japan, have "liberated" the country. She obviously didn't think that her son would soon be included in the long list of those who gave their life for a cause that is increasingly becoming misleading.

Shosei Koda is no longer among us to repeat his simple question to the Japanese prime minister. But for many who see the presence of Japanese soldiers in Iraq as a mere display of US subjugation of Japan, the same question is now blowing in the wind as Shosei's head hang at a distance with drops of blood sipping from the place where it had been chopped. The blood sipping head is endlessly repeating the same question as it keeps on saying, "Mr. Koizumi, they wanted to know why Japanese soldiers are in Iraq ... But I want to return home."

I'm not sure if Mr. Koizumi is having sound sleep at night. Maybe he is, as he might reply without any hesitation: "You see Shosei, our constitution doesn't allow us to keep soldiers. So as the question doesn't arise of sending soldiers to Iraq, you can tell your captors that we have sent our people to Iraq only for the noble purpose of self-defense. If they are still not satisfied, just ask them to read the Japanese constitution carefully."

As the tragedy takes a new turn, what we can do is only to shed silent tears for a twenty-four year old young man who kept his head high and didn't beg for his rescue, as he wanted to let the prime minister know that his only desire was to return home. His headless body will soon be back to his native land. But as the chopped head has disappeared somewhere in the treacherous sand of Iraq, it will keep on returning in the minds of those who were so indifferent about his fate just to repeat the same question that Shosei asked the prime minister when he was last time seen alive.