All on the Clock

How's this for a politician? He'll head out the door when his work is done:

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said on Thursday he would complete the rest of his term to September 2006 but wanted to step down then if his economic reforms were completed.

"I must grit my teeth and battle on for another two years. When the reforms I have aimed at are realized, my duty will be completed and at that time I want to be liberated from the post of prime minister as soon as possible," he wrote in an e-mail magazine published on Thursday.


For a relatively popular prime minister in Japan's de facto ruling party, those are strong words. Koizumi had some more strong words to offer on Iraq.

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