Junichiro Koizumi

The team is part of an ASDF advance unit of about 40 members being sent in a few groups to major cities in Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar to prepare for the main, 150-member ASDF team, to be dispatched possibly in mid-January.

Based in Kuwait, the ASDF will assist the U.S.-led coalition forces in transporting goods, such as medical supplies and food, on C-130 transport planes to airports in locations such as Baghdad, Basra, Balad and Mosul.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has pledged not to allow the transport of weapons and ammunition of other nations but said weapons being carried by soldiers themselves will be exempted.

The ASDF has prepared four C-130s for the mission, repainting them blue-gray from khaki to camouflage them more effectively for Middle Eastern skies and prevent them from being easily targeted by missiles on the ground.

The planes are equipped with flares and other devices to deflect such attacks.

The Japan Times Weekly: Jan. 3, 2004
(C) All rights reserved