The United States should have been more cautious before starting the war in Iraq, Japan's defense minister said Friday, backtracking on earlier comments that indicated he thought the decision was a mistake.
Seeking to downplay remarks he made earlier this week that the US invasion of Iraq was a mistake based on a faulty assumption, Fumio Kyuma said that more care should have been given to the decision.
"I did not say it was a mistake, but I thought at the time (the US) should have been more cautious," Kyuma said in response to a reporter's question after a Cabinet meeting.
