Ground Self-Defense Force vehicles patrol a city in southern Iraq.

The move is based on a request from the interim Iraqi government that the U.S.-led multinational forces stay in the country beyond next year, the sources said June 24.

Japan is currently withholding a reply, but one senior Foreign Ministry official said another extension of the Ground Self-Defense Forces deployment would be inevitable if the multinational forces were to stay.

The Defense Agency is expected to resist a further extension of the mission, which began in early 2004, particularly given the June 23 nonfatal roadside explosion that damaged a GSDF vehicle near the mission's camp in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is expected to face a tough decision through the end of this year amid growing concerns about the safety of the GSDF personnel in Samawah.

The Japan Times Weekly: July 2, 2005
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