The dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq marks a watershed in Japan's post-World War II security and defense policy. The SDF has joined U.N. peacekeeping operations several times since 1992. The latest deployment, though designed primarily to support humanitarian and reconstruction efforts in post-Hussein Iraq, has a significant difference: It aims to shore up the political and economic process of "peace-building" in a chaotic country.
Along with the troop dispatch, Japan's $5-billion aid package for Iraq, including $1.5 billion in grants for fiscal 2004, demonstrates here and abroad that this nation is committed to play its part in shaping a new order in the Middle East. These financial and human contributions, coming on top of similar efforts for Afghanistan, represents a major turning point for Japanese foreign policy as well.
Ground troops are to be dispatched in stages. Ninety members of the main Ground Self-Defense Force contingent already arrived in Samawah in southern Iraq earlier this week; the remaining 440 are scheduled to enter Iraq from late February to late March.