TOKYO: Sixty years after a ruined Japan surrendered to the United States and its allies, ending the Second World War, the nation has become a prosperous democracy but experts are sceptical at US President George W. Bush citing its example to raise hopes for Iraq.

Japan formally surrendered on September 2, 1945 on board the USS Missouri, ending a global conflict that left 50 million people dead and opening an era in which Tokyo is one of the closest US allies, even sending troops to Iraq.

But experts say there are major differences between Japan and the Muslim nation ranging from their contrasting cultures to the way in which the United States carried out its occupations.

Washington worked closely with many of the Japanese leaders and bureaucrats who had fought bitterly against the American ‘devils’. Emperor Hirohito was allowed to keep the throne after renouncing his divinity.

“The current process of nation-building in Iraq is led by former political exiles under the Saddam Hussein regime, which makes it like a revolution,” said Keiko Sakai, a Middle East specialist at the Institute of Developing Economies, a think-tank supported by the Japanese government.

“Post-war Iraq doesn’t have a neutral administrative body, as the former bureaucrats — most of them related to the Baath party — were purged,” she said, referring to Saddam’s party.

“The current administration is a regime driven by ideology and former exiles,” she said.

Amid mounting US calls for a withdrawal from Iraq, Bush on Tuesday called on Americans to fight guerillas in Iraq with the same resolve as they did Japanese imperial troops.

“Once again, we face determined enemies who ... despise everything America stands for,” Bush said.

“With every step toward freedom, the Japanese became a model for others in the region. With every step toward freedom, the Japanese became a valued member of the world community, a force for peace and stability in the region and a trusted and reliable ally of the United States of America,” he said.

Shoichi Koseki, a professor of legal affairs at Dokkyo University who studies post-war Japan, said Bush’s comparison of Japan and Iraq was ‘completely off the mark’.

“The occupation of Japan by the allied forces was enthusiastically welcomed by Asian neighbours, which is different from Iraq’s case. And because Japan was a resource-scarce country there was no suspicion about the purpose of the occupation as with oil-rich Iraq,” he said.—AFP