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Japan to send troops to Iraq
Japan's cabinet is expected to submit legislation to its parliament that would clear the way for Japanese troops to head to Iraq. The bill comes before the Diet with the stipulation that Japanese forces must stay away from any area that might be designated a war zone. War zone, what war zone? The governing coalition says it reached consensus on the proposal after removing a provision that would have had Japanese soldiers collecting and dismantling any weapons of mass destruction that might be found. That's OK, everyone knows there are no WMD, it was just a story Bush and Blair cooked up to seize the oil. The coalition had also been split between those who wanted to see the Japanese Self Defence Forces sent to Iraq immediately and those who preferred a more cautious schedule. Japan's pacifist constitution, imposed on it by the U.S. occupation following the Second World War, places restrictions on Japan's military. Sending them to hostile territory is a sensitive political issue. The chief of the defence agency, Shigeru Ishiba, says Japanese forces will go to Iraq with adequate weaponry and will have the authority to use their firepower. The government will not send the troops into combat zones, though, or allow them to refuel or maintain aircraft for combat operations. There's plenty of other jobs to go around. The current session of the Diet is scheduled to end on Wednesday, but the coalition is expected to push for an extension until late July to get the legislation through. Most likely to go into the Polish run sector with the Spanish forces? Posted by: Steve 2003-06-13 |
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