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Japanese Lawmakers Depart for Iraq
A delegation of Japanese lawmakers left for Iraq on Thursday to assess whether it is safe enough for Japanese forces to aid in Iraqâs reconstruction and support peacekeepers. The legislators are going to determine if itâs safe enough for their military? Isnât that supposed to be the other way around? The delegation, led by former Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura, will travel to Jordan before arriving in Baghdad on Saturday, a parliamentary official said. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has said Japanâs Self-Defense Forces would help with humanitarian assistance and reconstruction, but only if conditions in Iraq were deemed safe. Koizumi had to overcome Japanâs post-World War II aversion to militarism to win parliamentary support for the troop deployment. It would be the first dispatch of Japanese forces to a combat area since the 1940s. Polls show the Japanese public is concerned about the missionâs danger. The American public is concerned, too, but that didnât stop us (thank goodness). Kyodo News reported that the group of lawmakers will meet L. Paul Bremer, the chief U.S. administrator for Iraq, to discuss the Japanese soldiersâ mission. The delegation also plans to visit the Baghdad airport and hospitals. Japan could send up to 1,000 soldiers to Iraq as soon as October, local media have reported. Komuraâs delegation will return to Tokyo on Wednesday after stopping in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Posted by: Steve White 2003-07-31 |
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