WASHINGTON -- U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage expressed hope Thursday that Japan would send military personnel, including minesweepers, to help with reconstruction efforts in postwar Iraq.
Armitage, speaking to reporters after a congressional hearing, said Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's strong support for the war has earned immense gratitude from President George W. Bush.
"The unbelievable, strong public support of Prime Minister Koizumi and his government to the United States is something that President Bush and this administration will never forget," he said.
Armitage said the Bush administration hopes Japan will help out by dispatching medical personnel and minesweepers to the Persian Gulf.
Japan sent minesweepers to the Persian Gulf following the 1991 Gulf War.
The government is currently mulling a possible postwar role for the Self-Defense Forces.
In Tokyo, Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba expressed caution over sending SDF personnel to Iraq or the surrounding area.
"It depends on how the war ends and how the region will be governed afterward," Ishiba said.
Japan will consider what it can do under the current legal framework, he said. A dispatch of minesweepers, he added, will depend on the situation in the region.