Two months after his Diet comeback in November, Koichi Kato seems to be in two minds over whether to keep a low profile until he is no longer dogged by scandal -- or else reclaim his outspoken political identity.

Kato, a diplomat-turned-politician, said he will steer clear of Nagata-cho power struggles. At the same time, however, he has emerged as a vocal critic of the decision by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi -- his longtime ally -- to send Self-Defense Forces troops to Iraq at a time when their safety cannot be assured.

The 64-year-old former secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party was once widely considered a leading candidate to lead the LDP and thus the nation.

But pundits say he is no longer a contender, at least not in the near future. He was forced to resign from the House of Representatives last year following the arrest of his top aide for tax evasion. There were also allegations that he himself had misappropriated political funds.

Asked in an interview with The Japan Times if his ultimate goal is to become prime minister, Kato said: "That is not my main theme any more. I am not interested very much in political power struggles."

Kato said he will focus on his own policy interests, including those pertaining to science and technology, pensions and diplomatic relations with China.

A common assumption in Japanese politics is that should a scandal-tainted lawmaker be re-elected, the smear has been cleansed by the fresh voter mandate.

But things may be different for Kato, even though he returned to the Lower House more than a year after he resigned from the Diet.

Kato, Koizumi and former LDP Secretary General Taku Yamasaki, the "YKK trio," were considered close allies and "sworn friends." But that has changed.

Koizumi rose to the prime ministership in 2001, whereas Kato's political fortunes rapidly declined after his failed attempt to oust Koizumi's predecessor, Yoshiro Mori, the previous fall, prompting many members of his LDP faction to desert him.

Yamasaki, who was given the LDP's No. 2 position under Koizumi, failed to win re-election in the November poll.

Following his comeback to national politics, Kato surprised people in Nagata-cho by openly criticizing Koizumi's decision to have SDF troops take part in Iraq's reconstruction.

In the interview, Kato stressed the need for Japan to help rebuild Iraq, but said SDF units should not be deployed there unless the security situation is made stable.

"If Japan must run the risk of sending troops to Iraq to symbolically show its support for the United States, we need a justifiable cause," Kato said. "But things are beginning to look very difficult."

When Japan supported the U.S.-led war on Iraq in March, it was because Iraq presumably possessed weapons of mass destruction, he said, adding that such arms are a major concern for Japan, given North Korea's nuclear threat.

Now that weapons of mass destruction have not been found in Iraq, the reason for supporting the U.S. there has shifted to fighting international terrorism, Kato reckoned.

"Japan should have its own perspective in judging whether the (SDF) dispatch would help stabilize the international political situation and whether it is the right decision in terms of the Japan-U.S. alliance -- even though the U.S. has requested the dispatch," he said.

Kato noted that in the future, Japan should prepare to send troops to other parts of Asia when it is asked to do so to ensure stability, even if such a move requires a revision to the war-renouncing Constitution.

"If the government sends troops without cause and the consent of the people in this (Iraqi) case, it will foreclose on any future dispatch," he figured.

Kato resigned from the Lower House in April 2002. In December that year, the Tokyo District Court handed his former aide, Saburo Sato, a suspended two-year prison term for evading about 170 million yen in taxes. Sato did not file an appeal. Prosecutors did not establish a case against Kato's alleged political funds misappropriation.

During his 1 1/2 years outside the Diet, Kato held more than 600 small gatherings with supporters in his home constituency in Yamagata Prefecture, coming away with a different perspective toward politics and what is going on in the political world of Nagata-cho.

"People are tired of both ruling bloc and opposition politicians who avoid straight talk, for example, on issues such as pensions and the consumption tax," Kato said.

He criticized Koizumi for pledging not to raise the consumption tax while he is in office, thereby discouraging LDP members from thoroughly debating how the troubled public pension system would be financed in the future. A hike in the levy is widely considered the likely option for maintaining the pension scheme.