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GSDF welcomed in Samawah As the Diet gave the final go-ahead back home, local leaders Feb. 9 welcomed the head of a Ground Self-Defense Force unit setting up camp in the impoverished desert city of Samawah for Japan's biggest military operation overseas since World War II. About 200 guests, including the Samawah governor, representatives of Dutch and British forces, and Japanese Foreign Ministry officials, attended the dinner at a local gymnasium. The party came a day after the first of the core units for the humanitarian mission, a contingent of 60 or so, pulled into town led by a police escort in a heavily armored convoy. The Upper House on Feb. 9 gave its final approval for the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces on the strength of the governing coalition's majority in the house. The Upper House also approved a supplementary budget for fiscal 2003 to help finance Japan's $1.5 billion pledge for Iraqi reconstruction in 2004. That money is to be given in grants to help rebuild power, water and education infrastructure, and will not finance the military mission.
The Japan Times Weekly: Feb. 14, 2004 |
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