The special session of the Diet that was convened on Nov. 19 following the Nov. 9 general election came to an early close Nov. 27. On the question of the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq, which is the most important issue at the moment, fierce debate unfolded between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Democratic Party of Japan leader Naoto Kan, although Koizumi just kept repeating that his policy of dispatching the SDF to Iraq remains unchanged.
From beginning to end, the prime minister's approach remained one of dodging the issue and refraining from touching on such specifics as when and how.
In his recent meeting with visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as well, Koizumi simply kept repeating that Japan would do as much as possible. In consideration of the difficult position of Koizumi -- who was one of the first leaders to pledge full cooperation to the United States -- Rumsfeld in turn apparently refrained from asking sticky questions concerning when the SDF would be sent to Iraq or the size and composition of the dispatch.