SDF Mission in Iraq Extended; June Exit Planned--Japan Times

[Gloria]

Up now in the new World Media Watch (URL in sig below), tomorrow at Buzzflash.com.


4//The Japan Times, Japan Friday, December 9, 2005

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20051209a2.htm



SDF MISSION IN IRAQ EXTENDED; JUNE EXIT PLANNED

By Kanako Takahara, Staff Writer


The government formally endorsed a revised plan Thursday to extend the Ground Self-Defense Force's humanitarian mission in Samawah, southern Iraq, for another year while at the same time signaling the troops' withdrawal by next summer.

With Thursday's Cabinet approval to extend the GSDF's Iraq mission, the government will now map out an exit strategy.



The government appears to be debating the GSDF pullout not based on the assistance Iraq needs for reconstruction but on other factors, observers said, including one who suggested the timing has more to do with the September election for the presidency of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.



The revised Self-Defense Forces dispatch plan says the government will make its decision after considering the progress of reconstruction, the development of Iraq's political process and the security situation.



As earlier reported, the plan also states the government will assess the "activity conditions and changes in the composition (of other multilateral forces), including the British and Australian forces in Al-Muthanna Province," where the GSDF troops are based.

MORE