According to Kyodo News, Japan is expected to enact a special law later this month to allow dispatching Self-Defense Forces (SDF) units to Iraq to help reconstruction efforts there.

After the enactment of the law, the country is expected to send up to three Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) aircraft and around 200 troops to the region.

They will be based in countries near Iraq where the US military has a base, such as Qatar or Kuwait, and they will help transport supplies for the US military, including weapons and ammunition, Kyodo said.

It will be the first time the SDF transports arms for the US military overseas, and the idea will likely be debated at length at the Diet in light of possible infringement on Japan's war-renouncing Constitution.

The ASDF's anticipated activities appear far more involved in supporting the US military than Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF), which plans to provide water supplies to Iraqi citizens if security on the ground improves.

Based on current legislation allowing the SDF to perform peacekeeping duties only in foreign countries where UN peacekeeping operations are under way, Japan sent two ASDF C-130 transport planes to Jordan on Thursday.

Japan is expected to dispatch a total of about 1,000 SDF personnel from all its three divisions -- the ASDF, the GSDF and the Maritime Self-Defense Force -- in connection with the reconstruction of Iraq.

(Xinhua News Agency July 14, 2003)