Reiterating in effect what he had told U.S. President George W. Bush in a Japan-U.S. summit earlier this month, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced on Thursday that Japanese troops now stationed in Iraq will participate in the U.S.-led multinational force following the June 30 transfer of sovereignty. To clear the way for participation, the government at Friday's Cabinet meeting updated ground rules for troop deployment.
The announcement, which came in a meeting with the heads of opposition parties and in a subsequent press conference, raises various questions. The basic one is: Given the constitutional restraints on the use of force abroad, can the Self-Defense Forces join a multinational force that presupposes the use of force?
There is also a procedural question: Is revising a Cabinet order and other operating guidelines sufficient to permit SDF participation in what is essentially a military coalition? In other words, is the inclusion of the SDF in the multinational force consistent with the aim of Japan's Iraq assistance law, which limits its humanitarian and reconstruction activities to "noncombat areas"? Unfortunately, these questions, as well as the issue of constitutionality, have not been thoroughly discussed in the Diet.