In contrast to Germany, where Volkswagen is headquartered, Japan is giving important support to the rebuilding of a democratic Iraq:
"JAPAN STANDS BY AMERICA "December 13, 2003 -- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has given the go-ahead for the deployment of 600 ground troops to Iraq early next year. They will be supported by air and naval units. It's a major victory for the Bush administration. ... "[T]wo Japanese diplomats and their Iraqi driver were gunned down in Tikrit the weekend before last. But their murder, and threats from al Qaeda that Japan will be attacked if it assists the U.S.-led coalition, seem only to have stiffened Koizumi's resolve. ... "It makes South Korea's promised deployment of 3,000 troops more likely to happen.
"And - with forces of 28 other countries already helping the U.S. in Iraq - it underlines the relative isolation of France, Germany and Belgium, the European states that opposed the forceful removal of Saddam Hussein. ... "Koizumi believes that Japan's honor is at stake: "The United States is Japan's only ally," he said, "and it is striving very hard to build a stable and democratic government in Iraq . . . Japan must also be a trustworthy ally to the U.S."
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If you care about democracy in the Middle East and an end to terrorism originating from that venue -- and are trying to decide between a German or Japanese car -- I'd skip the German car until that country restores its moral fabric to that obtaining when Germany was a loyal NATO ally and appreciated the U.S. as the nation that defended Germany from Soviet takeover and was foremost in pressing for its reunification.