Perhaps legal idiocy doesn't exclusively occur within the United States after all. One of the Japanese hostages taken in Iraq by Islamofascist and/or Fedayeen remnants has sued the government of Japan for making the bad men angry at him, and he wants $46,000 for his mental anguish:

A Japanese activist who was briefly held captive in Iraq has sued his own government, saying its decision to send troops to the region angered his kidnappers and was to blame for his ordeal. Nobutaka Watanabe, 35, is seeking the equivalent of $46,000 for mental and physical hardship he suffered during his four days as a hostage, his lawyer Masatoshi Uchida told The Associated Press Wednesday.

"Mr. Watanabe believes his kidnapping was the result of Japan's military presence," said Uchida. "His captors told him that he had been taken because he was from a country that had sent troops to Iraq."

I suppose next we'll see lawsuits against the police for robberies, since law enforcement makes burglars angry, or perhaps torts against the UN for the mental treatment of nutcase militia types here, since the 'black helicopters' make them crazy. Don't think it's not a political statement, either. Take a look at the backdrop for the latest plaintiff to play Legal Lottery -- the sign says "US Go out -- Japan Soldiers Come Back", and in English rather than in Japanese.

Somewhat lost towards the bottom of this story is the fact that the Japanese government specifically warned its citizens not to travel to Iraq during this period of time, precisely to avoid what happened to Watanabe. Their defiance caused such an embarrassment for the Japanese that Tokyo charged them each for the flight home after their rescue, which Watanabe wants rescinded as well. Watanabe wants neither to accept any responsibility for his own actions nor to place any responsibility for the crime on its perpetrators. Instead, he wants to blame his government for all his ills and wants to cash in with a lawsuit, using the same system his government safeguards -- all because his government believes that Iraqis should have the same opportunities as Watanabe.

This guy sounds like an American to me.

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