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Japan rejects iraq troop dispatch now { November 13 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=403125§ion=newshttp://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=403125§ion=news
Japan rejects Iraq troop dispatch
Thu 13 November, 2003 12:18
By Isabel Reynolds
TOKYO (Reuters) - Shocked by a deadly bomb attack on Italian troops in what had been seen as a relatively safe area of Iraq, Japan says its planned dispatch of non-combat forces was not possible under existing conditions.
The bloodiest single attack on U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq since August put Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, a close Washington ally, in a tight spot a day ahead of a visit to Tokyo by U.S. Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld.
At least 18 Italians and nine Iraqis were killed in the southern region where Japan's troops were expected to be based.
"There should be a situation where our country's Self-Defence Forces can conduct their activities fully," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told a news conference on Thursday where he was grilled on the issue.
"But to our regret, the situation is not like that."
Asked whether the dispatch could be delayed until next year, Fukuda said: "That possibility has always existed."
Fukuda had said on Wednesday Tokyo was determined to send troops by year-end to help rebuild Iraq.
News agency Kyodo quoted an unidentified source as saying Japan believed its decision to not send troops soon would not hurt ties with the U.S. and that pressure on Tokyo to make "visible contributions" to the Iraq reconstruction effort appears to have lessened recently.
Japan has pledged $5 billion in grants and loans to rebuild Iraq, making it the biggest donor after the United States, and the source quoted by Kyodo said this may have soothed U.S. dissatisfaction with Japan's caution about sending troops.
Japan enacted a law in July allowing the dispatch of troops to help with reconstruction and humanitarian activities.
However, the law stipulated that the military, whose overseas activities are curbed by Japan's pacifist constitution, would only be sent to non-combat zones.
The planned dispatch of the military, which has not fired a shot in combat since 1945, is controversial in Japan, where many people opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
EYE ON POLLS
Koizumi, whose ruling coalition saw its majority shrink in a general election last weekend and who faces an Upper House poll in July, was non-committal.
"We will decide after looking carefully at the situation," he told reporters, using the phrase he has repeated for months.
A worsening security situation in Iraq and big gains in a weekend election by Japan's opposition Democratic Party, which opposes the dispatch, had already fed speculation the government would delay sending an advance party to Iraq until next year.
Critics say no distinction can be made between "combat zones" and "non-combat zones" in a country where more than 150 American troops have been killed since U.S. President George W. Bush declared major combat over in May.
"The situation is returning to a state of war," Democratic Party chief Naoto Kan told a news conference on Wednesday.
"If this situation persists, I think it will be impossible to send troops based on the law," said Kan, whose party opposed the enactment of the legislation itself.
Rumsfeld is set to arrive in Japan on Friday for a three-day stay. The situation in Iraq and the crisis over North Korea's nuclear arms programme are likely to be high on the agenda.
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