The Cabinet Legislation Bureau considers militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's following in Iraq a "quasi-government," government sources said Saturday, which could pose legal problems for Japan's deployment of troops in Iraq.
But the government has not adopted the view of the Cabinet advisory organ on laws and the Constitution, and the Defense Agency has opposed it, they said.
Under the special law to support Iraqi reconstruction, the Self-Defense Forces cannot be deployed in combat areas in which organized and systematic military activities by governments or quasi-governments are taking place.