Japan is preparing to send Self-Defense Force troops to Iraq for a period ending one year from Monday. Their dispatch, which is expected to begin early next year, is based on the assumption that they will operate in noncombat areas to help rebuild the war-torn country. According to the plan approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday, up to 600 ground troops will be stationed in southeastern Iraq to support humanitarian and reconstruction efforts. Cargo planes will shuttle between Kuwait and Iraq to supply relief goods, while naval vessels will transport ground units and equipment.

This is the first time that Japan has decided to deploy SDF personnel in a country effectively at war. The decision marks a significant departure from previous SDF deployments abroad -- namely, U.N. peacekeeping operations based on ceasefire agreements between warring parties and maritime logistic activities such as supplying fuel for the U.S.-led antiterror campaign in Afghanistan. A troop dispatch to Iraq will set a new precedent for Japan's evolving security policy.

The dispatch plan has many opponents -- not to mention skeptics, including those in the ruling coalition. Generally, they believe that an SDF deployment in a country as unstable as Iraq will not serve the cause of reconstruction and that sending troops into harm's way -- contrary to a legislative provision that limits deployment to noncombat zones -- will not serve the national interest. Many also feel that the government is putting too much weight on the Japan-U.S. alliance, as it did when it supported the U.S. decision to invade Iraq.