| About 130 Japanese troops crossed the border into Iraq on Saturday to join a humanitarian mission in the southern city of Samawah. The soldiers entered Iraq in a 50-vehicle convoy of armored personnel carriers, trucks and an ambulance. They were expected to arrive in Samawah in the afternoon, task force official Lt. Col. Shigeru Yamasaki said. In Samawah, the 130 soldiers will join 200 other Japanese working to purify the water supplies and rebuild the infrastructure. Tokyo has committed 1,000 military personnel, including air and naval forces, to the reconstruction of Iraq. Japan's noncombatant mission in Iraq is the country's largest foreign military deployment since World War II. The government says it has a responsibility to the international community to help rebuild Iraq after the war that toppled Saddam Hussein's regime in April. |