The U.S. Defense Department has asked Japan to send Air Self-Defense Force C-130 transport planes to Iraq and to take part in ground transportation and escort services there, according to sources.
The sources said Richard Lawless, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia and the Pacific, made the request during a working-level meeting in Tokyo on June 11, two days before Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi submitted a bill to enable the dispatch of Self-Defense Forces units to Iraq.
The Defense Agency plans to send six C-130s to Iraq in response to the U.S. request.