Japan to pull troops out of Iraq
Japan have announced that it is removing it's troops from Iraq, meaning that yet another member of the "coalition of the willing" is unwilling to continue with the occupation.
Mr Koizumi's support for the US invasion of Iraq is widely viewed as one of the biggest gambles of his premiership. Japan's constitution forbids its troops using force to settle international disputes and Japanese MPs had to pass a special law in July 2003 to allow the strictly humanitarian mission to go ahead. A total of 5,500 Japanese troops have served in Samawah - protected by Dutch, Australian and British troops - since December 2003.Italy gone, Spain gone, and now Japan.
John Howard, the Australian prime minister, said his country's forces would keep "looking after the Japanese until the Japanese have gone, and I expect that to be quite soon". Fukushiro Nukaga, head of Japan's defence agency, said the withdrawal would take "several dozen days".
Mr Koizumi sent Japanese troops to Iraq despite domestic opposition to the war. Critics said his unswerving support for the US would make Japan a target for terrorists and made a mockery of the country's "pacifist" constitution.
The only thing needed to complete this unravelling of the coalition would be for Micronesia - and the other coalition "members" who contributed nothing other than their good wishes - to ask for their Good Luck card to be returned.
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2 comments:
They should go. Japan's contribution is minimal and there tasks can be taken over by newly trained Iraqi soldiers.
But weren't they, at one point, celebrated as a member of the "coalition of the willing"?
Your side used to argue that this "coalition" was important.
Have you abandoned that stance?
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