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Blast gives Japan second thoughts about troops in Iraq

Shocked by a deadly bomb attack on Italian troops in what had been seen as a relatively safe area of Iraq, Japan wobbled yesterday on plans to send members of its own military to the country by the end of the year.

A planned dispatch of Japanese non-combat troops is not possible under present conditions, Tokyo's top spokesman said after at least 18 Italians and nine Iraqis were killed in the southern region where Japan's troops were expected to be based.

The bloodiest single attack on US-led coalition forces in Iraq since August put Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, a close Washington ally, in a tight spot a day ahead of a visit to Tokyo by US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

"There should be a situation where our country's Self-Defense Forces can conduct their activities fully," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told a news conference where he was grilled on the issue.

"But to our regret, the situation is not like that."

Asked whether the dispatch could be delayed until next year, Fukuda said: "That possibility has always existed."

Fukuda had said on Wednesday that Tokyo was determined to send troops by year-end to help rebuild Iraq.

Japan has pledged US$5 billion in grants and loans to rebuild Iraq, making it the biggest donor after the US.

It enacted a law in July allowing the dispatch of troops to help with reconstruction and humanitarian activities.

However, the law stipulated that the military, whose overseas activities are constrained by Japan's pacifist constitution, would only be sent to non-combat zones.

The planned dispatch of the military, which has not fired a shot in combat since 1945, is controversial in Japan, where many people opposed the US-led war in Iraq.

Koizumi, whose ruling coalition saw its majority shrink in a general election last weekend and who faces an Upper House poll in July, was non-committal.

"We will decide after looking carefully at the situation," he told reporters, using the phrase he has repeated for months.

The main opposition Democratic Party insist on a UN mandate for any troop dispatch and it opposes deploying military personnel before Iraqis form a provisional government.

Critics also say no distinction can be made between "combat zones" and "non-combat zones" in a country where more than 150 American troops have been killed since US President George W. Bush declared major combat over in May.

"The situation is returning to a state of war," Democratic Party chief Naoto Kan told a news conference on Wednesday.

"If this situation persists, I think it will be impossible to send troops based on the law," said Kan, whose party opposed the enactment of the legislation itself.

Rumsfeld is set to arrive in Japan today for a three-day stay. The situation in Iraq and the crisis over North Korea's nuclear arms program are likely to be high on the agenda.
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