Japan Soldiers Head to Iraq for Mission

TOKYO - About 80 Japanese soldiers assigned to help rebuild Iraq took off from the northern island of Hokkaido on Tuesday, inaugurating the main part of Japan's highly contested mission.

The ground troops departed on a plane from an army base outside Sapporo, about 520 miles northwest of Tokyo, a Ground Self-Defense Force official said on condition of anonymity.

The soldiers are part of about 1,000 ground, sea and air forces being sent to the region. They will first head for training in Kuwait before moving to the southern Iraqi city of Samawah where they will build housing for 500 troops expected to arrive by March.

The mission is hotly debated in Japan, where many fear the soldiers will be targeted by insurgents and could get drawn into fighting. Many also argue the dispatch violates Japan's postwar pacifist constitution.

The troops will purify water and carry out other humanitarian tasks in Iraq. Japan has already dispatched advance teams and three C-130 cargo planes to the area - the first time Japan's military has been deployed to a combat zone since World War II.

The opposition parties held up an upper house committee in Parliament for more than a day protesting the dispatch and demanding the ruling party allow more time for debate.

The committee reconvened Tuesday to debate an extra budget bill funding the dispatch after the two sides reached a compromise enabling more discussion. The upper house is expected to vote next week on a separate measure to approve the mission.

Approval is virtually assured because Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's ruling coalition controls a majority in the chamber. Koizumi, a staunch defender of the U.S.-led Iraq invasion, has argued that Japanese troops are needed to help stabilize Iraq, strengthen Tokyo's alliance with Washington and secure vital oil supplies.

In Hokkaido, some 1,600 family members and co-workers gathered at the base for a departure ceremony for the soldiers.

"I hope all of you will do your best for the Iraqi people and for world peace," Yasukazu Hamada, deputy chief of the defense agency, said during the nationally televised ceremony.

The group's representative vowed they would do their best.

"We, as the representatives of Japan, will do our best for the people of Iraq and for the stability of Japan and the region," Col. Yasushi Kiyota said. "No matter what happens, we shall overcome any hardships that we may face so we will all return safely."