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| Iraq |
| JapanÂ’s defence minister plans visit to Iraq |
| 2007-03-20 |
| TOKYO - JapanÂ’s Defence Minister Fumio Kyuma, who caused a stir when he criticised the US invasion of Iraq, plans a visit to the war-torn country, a report said Monday. Kyuma will visit in late April or early May, making him only the second Japanese cabinet member to visit Iraq since the invasion, Jiji Press said. Japan last year ended its historic deployment of 600 troops on a reconstruction mission to Iraq -- the first time since World War II that Tokyo had sent soldiers to a country where fighting was underway. But Japan continues to station some 210 air force personnel in Kuwait to fly people and supplies into Iraq on behalf of the US-led coalition and the United Nations. Tokyo is expected to extend the air mission by two years when it expires at the end of July, but Kyuma wants to inspect the conditions himself, Jiji Press said. Immediate confirmation was not available. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 I remember riding on a bus leaving the Kuwaiti airbase in question on a break back in '05. At the guard post there were Japanese soldiers, meatball flag patches on their shoulders - cool. Beyond cool, ultra-weird, as they were paired up with Kuwaiti soldiers. "first time since World War II that Tokyo had sent soldiers to a country where fighting was underway" Well, first time since Tokyo's soldiers WERE THE ONES DOING/CAUSING THE FIGHTING, to be more precise. Funny, but accurate. |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2007-03-20 23:25 |