Japan to send troops to Iraq

["David Quarter" <davidquarter@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

From:           	Geese 4 Peace <geese4peace@xxxxxxxxx>

---------------------------
from
The Mirror
Sat, July 26, 2003

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/24by7panews/page.cfm?objectid=13220564&method=full&siteid=50143

Japan to send troops to Iraq
By Masayuki Kitano

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan has enacted a controversial law paving the way
for it to dispatch troops to help rebuild Iraq in what could be the
nation's biggest overseas military deployment since World War Two.

After two days of opposition party delaying tactics that held up
passage until the wee hours, parliament's upper house on Saturday
approved the law, which critics say could violate Japan's pacifist
constitution.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's ruling coalition had pledged to have
the bill passed by the upper house before the current parliamentary
session ends on Monday.

Failure would have meant a huge loss of face for Koizumi, possibly
forcing him to call a snap general election -- something analysts
doubted the opposition was prepared to risk.

"It's a bill that opens up a bright view for Japan," Chief Cabinet
Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told reporters after its passage.

Fukuda said the government would decide the possible timing and size of
a troop dispatch after conducting a thorough survey.

The government now faces the challenge of finding a role for its troops
in Iraq that will be acceptable both to the United States -- its most
important ally -- and the electorate.

Koizumi has been determined to keep his promise to the United States to
send troops to Iraq despite a recent poll showing more than half of
Japanese voters oppose the move.

Unnerved by mounting U.S. casualties in Iraq, many Japanese are
reluctant to see their troops -- who have not fired weapons in combat
since the end of World War Two -- put in danger.

"This is a bill that would allow the sending of the Self-Defence Force
(SDF) to Iraq, it's not a bill that says we must do so," Koizumi told
the Upper House's Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, which later
passed the bill, sending it to the Upper House's plenary session, where
it was enacted.

Koizumi added it would be necessary to carefully assess the local
situation. He stressed the SDF would not take part in combat and would
only be sent to areas free from conflict.

The opposition had tried to delay the controversial bill. It submitted
a no-confidence motion against the Koizumi cabinet on Friday that was
voted down by the ruling parties.

Opposition lawmakers also resisted a vote on the bill in the upper
house committee, shouting and rushing toward the panel's chairman as he
called for a vote and scuffling with ruling party members.

On Thursday, some opposition members resorted to the "ox walk" tactic,
stepping slowly toward the dais where they cast their ballots on a
string of censure motions against cabinet members in the Upper House.