PM Koizumi draws curtain on Japan's mission in Iraq Camp Asaka, Japan (AFP) Jul 29, 2006 "I feel proud because every one of you has come home safe and sound," Koizumi said at a ceremony marking the end of the two-and-a-half-year mission in the southern city of Samawa. "It is wonderful that you have fulfilled your duty without firing a shot or causing a death," he told about 600 soldiers who made up the last contingent of the mission, and a similar number of relatives. "What you have done will be remembered by the Japanese people and the Iraqi people for a long time to come," Koizumi said, speaking at this military base northwest of Tokyo. It was one of his final public speeches before he steps down in Septemeber at the end of a five-year tenure marked by bold, unprecedented initiatives. The Iraq mission was among Koizumi's diplomatic highlights while his economic reforms at home produced few major results aside from the privatisation of postal services. Some analysts and observers including Tokyo's former ambassador to Lebanon Naoto Amaya have said that sending troops to Iraq could have lost Japan, which relies on Middle Eastern oil, some of its friends in the Arab world. A batch of 280 ground troops flew into Tokyo last Tuesday, completing the mission which marked the first time since World War II that Japanese troops have been despatched to a country where fighting is under way. Despite strong objections at home, Koizumi, who prides himself as a close ally of US President George W. Bush, had his ruling coalition push through a law in late 2003 to justify the "non-combat" deployment to help rebuild the relatively calm Iraqi province of Muthanna. Japan's US-inspired post-war constitution bans the use of force in settling international disputes. Any involvement in fighting in war-torn Iraq could have had serious political consequences for Koizumi. The Japanese contingent, based in Muthanna's capital Samawa, relied on British, Australian and Dutch troops for protection while helping build water supply facilities and provide medical assistance. Its encampment came under mortar shell attack several times but there were no casualties and property damage was not serious. "Welcome home. I believe your families have cared much about you with prayer in their hearts," Koizumi, 64, said in a six-minute speech delivered without a prepared text. "You have done difficult jobs in an admirable manner despite the tough conditions." At the ceremony, Colonel Toshihiro Yamanaka, who headed the last contingent, turned over the mission's flag to Fukushiro Nukaga, director general of the Defence Agency. A total of about 5,500 ground troops were sent to Samawa in 10 groups. "I realised again that everyone is back safe," Yamanaka told reporters, when asked to comment on Koizumi's speech. The landmark mission was widely seen as a way for Japan to prove itself as more than just an economic power that exercises chequebook diplomacy. Koizumi has sought to break more post-World War II taboos by proposing a revision of the US-imposed 1947 constitution to recognize Japan has a military -- now euphemistically named the Self-Defense Forces. Japan learnt a bitter lesson from the US-led Gulf War in 1991, when it came in for strong international criticism for not sending personnel despite picking up 13.5 billion dollars, or 20 percent, of the coalition bill. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Nuclear Space Technology at Space-Travel.com
Israeli army chief taken to hospital for tests: report Jerusalem (AFP) Jul 28, 2006 The Israeli army chief of staff, General Dan Halutz, fell ill Friday and was taken to hospital for tests, Channel 10 television reported. |
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