Japan's Self-Defense Forces are making final preparations for helping humanitarian and reconstruction work in Iraq. An advance party of air force personnel is expected to leave this week under an order issued last week by Defense Agency Director General Shigeru Ishiba. An air transport unit probably will be dispatched early next year to airlift troops and supplies from Kuwait to Baghdad and other places in Iraq. Mr. Ishiba also issued standby orders for ground and navy units.
This is the first time since the end of World War II that Japanese troops have been mobilized for duty in a foreign country in a state of war. This mission, though limited strictly to noncombat activities, will mark yet another important change to the nature and direction of the SDF and hence the nation's security policy.
The main concern is that SDF personnel, if attacked by insurgents, might get involved in combat -- a situation that could contradict constitutional restraints on the use of force abroad. In fact, continuing chaos in Iraq is the main reason why a large majority of the Japanese public is opposed to or critical of troop deployment.