「英語リーディング筋トレ―これで英字新聞も怖くない！」　第１記事

情報源：The Japan Times Online 2004年1月27日

TROOPS MAY GO EARLY NEXT MONTH　（自衛隊来月上旬出発）
Koizumi OKs dispatch of main GSDF unit　（小泉首相陸自本隊派遣を承認）

By NAO SHIMOYACHI and REIJI YOSHIDA
Staff writers

Japan Timesの正式な「使用権」を得て掲載されています。

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi gave the final go-ahead Monday for the main contingent of Ground Self-Defense Force troops to be deployed to Iraq.

The move paves the way for a full-fledged Japanese military deployment aimed at helping to rebuild the war-ravaged nation.

With Koizumi's nod, Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba later ordered the GSDF to dispatch an estimated 520 troops to the southern Iraqi city of Samawah.

The GSDF members will be dispatched in phases over a two-month period beginning in early February. They will engage in water-purification and medical-relief activities, Defense Agency officials said.

Ishiba also ordered the Maritime Self-Defense Force to dispatch vessels tasked with transporting GSDF personnel and equipment.

"The SDF is the sole organization in this nation " that can meet various needs, Ishiba told reporters after issuing the order.

He said the SDF mission will help Iraqi people improve their lives and serve Japan's national interests by contributing to stability in the Middle East, the source of 90 percent of Japan's crude oil supplies, as well as by strengthening ties with the United States.

Also on Monday, three C-130 cargo planes of the Air Self-Defense Force left Komaki Air Base in Aichi Prefecture for Kuwait.

They will help the U.S.-led coalition forces by airlifting food, medicine and other supplies from an air base in Kuwait to major airports in Iraq.

The 550 GSDF troops will constitute the main part of Japan's 1,000-strong military assistance for Iraq's reconstructIon efforts.

Japan is the 38th country to join the "coalition of the willing," nations that have cooperated with U.S.-led efforts to rebuild Iraq.

Japan will rank eighth among the 38 nations in terms of the scale of its military deployment.

According to sources, Washington had indirectly urged Japan to send about 1,000 Self-Defense Forces troops to Iraq following the completion of the war, saying it wanted to see "2,000 boots on the ground."

Monday's order to send the main GSDF contingent came after Koizumi gained final approval from New Komeito, the junior partner of the Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition.

New Komeito's approval had represented the last barrier to the main GSDF dispatch.

The party had voiced caution over the move, with misgivings rife among members of its core support group, Soka Gakkai, the nation's largest lay Buddhist organization.

A 30-member advance team of the GSDF left Japan a week ago, with two members returning home Friday.

They submitted a positive assessment of the security situation in Samawah.

"I told the prime minister that I will respect his decision," New Komeito leader Takenori Kanzaki told reporters after meeting with Koizumi earlier in the day.

But in giving the dispatch the green light, Kanzaki issued three conditions.

He said every step must be taken to ensure the safety of SDF personnel, the media must be given sufficient information on the SDF's local activities, and measures must be taken to generate jobs for local people.

"Local expectations for measures to create jobs are particularly high," Kanzaki said. "I asked (Koizumi) to meet these expectations."

The SDF dispatch to Iraq is the first time Japan has sent its troops to a country in which hostilities are taking place since World War II.

Ishiba reiterated on Monday that military deployment in Iraq will "never constitute use of force as a means of solving international disputes, which is banned by Article 9" of the Constitution, saying the troops will suspend their activities when there is a danger of their being involved in combat.

Public opinion in Japan has been sharply divided on the military dispatch to Iraq.

On Sunday, thousands of people took to the streets in major cities around the nation to protest the deployment.