Japan to end Iraq mission

TOKYO: Japan said on Tuesday it was ending an air mission in Iraq, wrapping up a military deployment which was historic for the pacifist nation but deeply unpopular at home.

Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said Japan planned by the end of the year to bring back the planes which flew goods and personnel into Iraq in support of the United Nations and US-led coalition.

The mission was the last Japanese military operation in Iraq after Japan, which has been officially pacifist since defeat in World War II, ended a landmark ground deployment in 2006.

"After continued consultations with Iraq, we have come to believe that the situation in Iraq has gradually improved and that we are gradually achieving the purpose" of the Japanese mission, Komura said.

"The Iraqi side is reaching out to countries concerned to coordinate what it wants to ask of multinational forces from the next year," he said. "I believe Iraq is showing its understanding for Japan's thinking."

The Japanese planes operating in Iraq are stationed in Kuwait. Domestic legislation allowing the mission expires in July next year.

But Komura said the government will continue another controversial mission in the Indian Ocean, in which the naval forces provide fuel for the US-led "war on terror" in Afghanistan.

Japan's opposition, which has been making gains, is staunchly against both missions in Iraq and the Indian Ocean. It briefly forced a halt to the Indian Ocean deployment last year, saying Japan should not be part of "American wars."
Then prime minister Junichiro Koizumi sent troops to Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion, marking the first time that Japan deployed armed forces to a country where fighting was underway since 1945.

Koizumi and other members of his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) argue that Japan must do more to ensure global security to win respect on the world stage.

But the mission was deeply unpopular with the Japanese public. Koizumi ended the ground mission in 2006 when the relatively safe area where Japanese forces were on a reconstruction mission was handed over to Iraq control.

Taro Aso, the front-runner to be Japan's next prime minister in a ruling party election later this month, said Wednesday that he planned to end the air mission in Iraq.

But Aso and his rivals in the party all said they would fight to continue the Indian Ocean mission -- setting the stage for another showdown with the opposition.

Komura said the government came to the decision also because UN Security Council resolution 1790, which allows foreign troops to stay in Iraq, will expire at the end of December.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has voiced support for the departure of US combat troops by the end of 2010, a deadline similar to one proposed by US presidential candidate Barack Obama.