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Japanese lower house passes bill of SDF dispatch to Iraq

PLA Daily 2004-02-02

TOKYO, Jan. 31 (Xinhuanet) -- Japan's House of Representatives on Saturday endorsed the dispatch of the country's Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to Iraq, and a bill for an extra fiscal 2003 budget to finance it, with the backing of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's governing coalition.

Opposition lawmakers were absent from the voting.

The two measures will be handed to the House of Councilors, which the ruling camp hopes will similarly endorse them on Feb. 6in what would be the final parliament approval.

Most members of Koizumi's dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partner, the New Komeito party, backed the dispatch and the budget in a vote during a plenary session of the lower house after midnight Friday.

But the endorsement was slightly overshadowed by several influential LDP members who did not support the Iraq-related measures after opposing dispatching the SDF under the current security conditions.

The senior LDP members who refused to follow Koizumi's policy included Makoto Koga and Koichi Kato, both of whom formerly served as the party's secretary general.

Members of the opposition camp, led by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), boycotted the voting, saying they were dissatisfied with the government's efforts to ensure the safety of dispatched SDF troops.

The ruling camp railroaded the SDF dispatch measure through a special lower house committee on the reconstruction of Iraq on Friday.

After the plenary session closed, Koizumi told reporters, "We will make further efforts to gain public understanding over the SDF dispatch."

On the rebellion of the senior LDP lawmakers, the premier said, "I expected all of the LDP lawmakers to support the proposals, but it is their own decision."

The bill for the 1.4 trillion yen (13.2 billion US dollars)supplementary budget for the current fiscal year through March 31 passed the chamber's Budget Committee in the absence of opposition members. The budget includes 118 billion yen (1.1 billion US dollars) for Iraq-related measures.

The vote on the measures during the chamber's plenary session was delayed until past midnight as the opposition camp, which includes the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party, continued its stiff resistance.

Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) plans to begin full humanitarian and reconstruction operations in April in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah, where an advance team is already deployed.The government began to send in SDF teams last month, and the first batch of the core GSDF team is expected to leave possibly Tuesday.Stability in the city is a major concern in Japan. GSDF troops are restricted to not using weapons as freely as the militaries of other countries due to Japan's war-renouncing Constitution.

The lower house saw rancorous debate all this week over the way the government has handled information related to the security situation in Samawah and whether or not it has a city council.

A special law on the SDF dispatch for Iraq assistance requires the government to seek Diet endorsement at the earliest parliamentary session if it sends or decides to send troops during a recess.