Iraq Bill Shoves Its Way Into Japan Law

Despite growing public unease and a last-minute scramble by opponents to put up roadblocks, Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party rammed a controversial bill through parliament early today that allows the government to send peacekeeping troops to Iraq.

Passage of the bill was a big win for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who backed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and advocates a more global role for Japanese peacekeeping troops. U.S. officials -- straining to meet demands for troops in the Middle East, the Korean peninsula and Africa -- have pressured Japan to increase its military contribution to the Iraq campaign. Japan is already a leading financier of the reconstruction effort, pledging $86 million in aid.

“This law will benefit Japan in the long run,” Koizumi was quoted as saying after the vote. He said the government will need to conduct a “thorough study on local conditions” before determining how many troops to dispatch and when they should go. Military officials have said as many as 1,000 soldiers could be sent to help rebuild Iraq.

Washington immediately relayed a message of support to its key Asian ally.

“We think Japan’s ability to play this positive role in Iraq is a reflection of the kind of role it can play in world affairs,” Richard Boucher, a State Department spokesman said.

But angry opposition party lawmakers said the measure violates Japan’s post-World War II constitution, which restricts troops to providing defense against foreign attacks, and that it pushes Japan farther down the path toward remilitarization.

Liberal Party member Takuya Tasso accused Koizumi of caving in to U.S. pressure and endangering the lives of Japanese peacekeepers unprepared to take part in armed conflict. The new law limits Japanese troops to noncombat areas in Iraq, but the lawmaker said it is impossible to determine what parts of that country are safe.

“We don’t think our Self-Defense Forces are well-prepared, equipped or trained to do as well as other countries like the U.S. and U.K. in Iraq,” Tasso said. “We don’t think we can distinguish safe and dangerous areas in Iraq.”

Tempers flared as critics of the Iraq bill succeeded in pushing the vote into the wee hours of the morning. When a committee was debating the bill, opposition lawmakers rushed the panel chairman, and a shoving match ensued.

In further efforts to stall the vote, opposition lawmakers submitted a no-confidence vote against the Koizumi Cabinet and they dusted off an obstruction technique known as the “ox walk,” in which they strolled very slowly to the front of the room to cast their votes. Those actions failed.

Security is the arena in which Koizumi has scored his biggest victories since taking office two years ago. On the government’s agenda are plans to extend an antiterrorism law that expires Nov. 1 and to eventually establish a permanent law allowing Japanese troops to support multinational forces. The law allowing Japan to send forces to Iraq will expire in four years.

But Koizumi runs a political risk sending Japanese troops into what is still a combat zone. U.S. troops are the target of nearly daily guerrilla attacks. Japanese troops previously have been limited to participating in United Nations-sponsored peacekeeping operations in places such as Cambodia and East Timor.

Masashi Nishihara, president of Japan’s National Defense Academy, said the prime minister is caught between his desire to strengthen Japan’s alliance with the United States and the growing unease of the Japanese public. To avoid a political backlash, the Koizumi government may delay the dispatch of peacekeepers to Iraq until after the general election, which could be held in early November.

“This is a very, very critical issue,” Nishihara said. “Some politicians say if there is a single casualty in Iraq, the minister of defense may have to leave office.”

Public support in Japan for the Iraq peacekeepers has dropped dramatically in recent weeks as more questions have surfaced about the validity of U.S. claims that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.

That discontent has given new life to Japan’s nascent peace movement. Since the beginning of the year, there have been several antiwar rallies in Tokyo that attracted tens of thousands of people. Tatsuya Yoshioka, director of Peace Boat, a Tokyo-based peace group, said the participation in those rallies was “amazing,” given the historic lack of support for grass-roots movements in his country.

Tomoko Ogata, a 64-year-old homemaker and mother of three, joined a small but vocal demonstration near the parliament building in Tokyo this week. Ogata said she had never participated in a political protest but was disgusted by the decision to send troops to Iraq.

“The Japanese government doesn’t listen to people’s voices anymore,” said the protester, a Chiba resident, who spent three days perched on a stool on the sidewalk. “They just made the decision themselves. I couldn’t let them do that.”