Japanese troops prepare for Iraq
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Japan's decision to send troops to Iraq has not been without protest.
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(CNN) -- The first Japanese non-combat troops under the Iraq deployment will leave for Kuwait and Qatar on December 25, according to Defense Agency sources quoted in Tokyo.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced Tuesday his government's historic decision to send troops to help rebuild Iraq.
The Nihon Keizai newspaper, quoting agency sources, reported Friday that a 10-member advance team of Air Self-Defense Force personnel would leave on December 25.
It said the ASDF personnel would go to Qatar and Kuwait, the two Middle East nations that have been among the major supporters of the Coalition forces operating in Iraq.
According to the Asahi Shimbun, ASDF members will fly C-130 transport planes ferrying supplies between Kuwait and Iraq, under the coordination of the U.S. Air Force in Qatar.
Japan's decision this week to deploy non-combat troops to Iraq paves the way for its largest overseas military mission since the end of World War II.
The move came after an extraordinary cabinet meeting on Tuesday and follows intense debate on the matter, stirred up by the killing of two Japanese diplomats in Iraq late last month.
"We are not going to war," Koizumi said, after the decision. "The situation in Iraq is severe. We know it is not necessarily safe. But our Self-Defense Forces must still fulfill this mission."
The troop plan is a controversial one for Japan with many critics saying such a dispatch violates the nation's pacifist constitution. Opinion polls showed most Japanese were against the Iraq war and most are now opposed to the deployment of troops.
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The ground troops will provide humanitarian assistance and help the coalition carry out operations.
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Article nine of the constitution forbids Japan's military -- the Self-Defense Forces -- from waging war overseas. Opponents of the troop dispatch are concerned that owing to the security situation in Iraq, Japanese forces may be drawn into combat.
No Japanese soldier has fired a shot in combat or been killed in an overseas mission since World War II despite roles in international peacekeeping missions, such as in East Timor, which were made possible by a 1992 law.
But Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi -- who had previously committed to U.S. President George W. Bush to send Japanese troops -- said it would be wrong for his nation to stand by and do nothing.
"America has made many sacrifices to create a viable democracy in Iraq," he said. "Japan must be a trustworthy ally for the United States."
The Mainichi Shimbun reported Thursday that the government saw North Korea as the main threat to Japan and Tuesday's decision was motivated by that.
It quoted an unidentified foreign ministry official as saying: "In return for our support for America while it is being isolated over the Iraqi crisis, we want the U.S. to do us a favor in regard to North Korean issues. This was our true purpose when we cast support behind the Anglo-American war on Iraq."
The Koizumi plan allows for Japanese troops to be sent during a one-year period starting December 15. No specific date for the dispatch or the size of the deployment was set.
Media reports said initially 500 to 700 ground troops would be sent, preceded by air and naval forces as well as equipment and supplies.
The troops will provide humanitarian assistance and help coalition forces carry out operations safely, Japan's Nihon Keizai newspaper reported Tuesday. They are expected to provide water, offer medical services and rebuild schools, the daily added.
Seven or eight air force planes, three navy transport vessels and three destroyers are expected to be sent to Iraq, the reports said.
Additionally, the troops would be equipped with the heaviest armaments yet taken on a Japanese overseas mission, including anti-tank rocket launchers and recoilless guns to protect against suicide bombers in Iraq, according to the reports.
Though the constitution allows for Japan only to have forces for self-defense, parliament passed and enacted a law in July that allowed troops to be sent to help rebuild Iraq. The law, however, specifies that military personnel be sent only to "non-combat" zones.
Plans to send more than 1,000 troops were delayed last month after a bomb attack on an Italian military police headquarters in Iraq that killed 19 Italians and 14 locals.
The killing of the two diplomats, slain by gunmen near Tikrit last month, and the rise in attacks on non-U.S. personnel in Iraq have added to fears Japanese troops may be targeted there.
There are also worries closer to home, with many Japanese worried they may become terrorist attack targets after al Qaeda warned it would "strike at the heart of Tokyo" should Japan send troops to Iraq.
A recent opinion poll shows only 9 percent of Japanese support the government's plan to dispatch troops to the region.
