Japanese troops head for Iraq

Hundreds of Japanese troops got a ceremonial send-off today before leaving for Iraq on a humanitarian mission that will be the largest and most dangerous deployment by Japan’s military since World War II.

In a ceremony at a base on the northern tip of Japan, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and senior defence officials addressed about 500 soldiers who will make up the core of a Japanese force on a noncombat operation to help rebuild Iraq.

“You are not going to war,” he told the rows of the soldiers standing at attention in berets and camouflage fatigues at an assembly hall. “You are going to help the people of Iraq in their hopes to rebuild their country.”

Some 650 family members, as well as top government officials including Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi and Takenori Kanzaki, Koizumi’s coalition partner and key ally, attended the 30-minute service.

The troops’ itinerary has not been made public. Japanese media reported they will start moving out on Tuesday, when about 80 men will fly to Kuwait from Japan’s northernmost island for several days of training before proceeding by convoy to their base of operations in the south-western Iraqi city of Samawah.

The contingent will join small teams of Japanese soldiers and airmen who have been on the ground in Iraq and Kuwait for weeks making final preparations for the mission, which has divided Japan over its pacifist ideals and international responsibilities.

The ceremony in Asahikawa was held a day after the government secured an endorsement for the operation from Parliament in a vote that was boycotted by the political opposition.

The government plans to commit a total of 1,000 Japanese ground, air and naval personnel to Iraqi reconstruction, a mission Koizumi says is necessary for Japan to uphold its obligations to the international community.

In deference to the war-renouncing provisions of the nation’s 1947 constitution, their duties will be limited to repairing war-damaged buildings, trucking in fresh water and providing medical care.

Polls show public opinion is split over the deployment, mostly because of the dangers involved.