The government has decided to terminate the Air Self-Defense Force's aerial transportation mission in Iraq by yearend, citing the expiration of the United Nations resolution authorizing multinational forces' deployment in Iraq as well as the improved security situation there. Fortunately, the ASDF has not suffered any casualties so far, although its activities have been largely shrouded in secrecy. For the government to finish this mission without making public the details of the ASDF's activities would be detrimental to the nation's constitutional order.
On the basis of a special law to provide humanitarian assistance for Iraqi reconstruction, an ASDF unit that includes three C-130 air transports was sent to Kuwait. Although its mission was first limited to southern Iraq, ASDF flights were later expanded to Baghdad and Arbil in northern Iraq. As of Sept. 10, the C-130s had transported multinational force soldiers and U.N. workers and 640 tons of supplies in 768 trips. But the government has not given a full explanation of this mission. (A Ground-Self Defense Force unit ended its mission in Samawah in southern Iraq in July 2006.)
The special law requires the Self-Defense Forces to carry out their missions in noncombat zones and bans the SDF from using force and threat in its activities. But then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made constitutionally problematic statements in the Diet: "How can I tell which area is a noncombat zone and which area a combat zone?" and "The area where the SDF is carrying out its activities is a noncombat zone."