Upper house committee approves bill to withdraw ASDF from Iraq

Nov 26 11:57 PM US/Eastern

TOKYO, Nov. 27 (AP) - (Kyodo)—The upper house committee on foreign affairs and defense approved a bill Tuesday to withdraw Japanese Air Self-Defense Force troops from Iraq.

Photo: The opposition-controlled House of Councillors approved a bill Nov. 28 to withdraw Japanese Air Self-Defense Force from Iraq by terminating the special law on reconstruction aid for the war-torn nation.

The bill, proposed by the opposition Democratic Party of Japan to terminate the special measures law to support Iraqi reconstruction, will be approved during the House of Councillors plenary session Wednesday.

But it is expected to be voted down or scrapped by the more powerful House of Representatives.

Japan's main opposition party had submitted the bill three times before -- in 2004, 2005 and this April -- and has now succeeded for the first time in gaining the approval of the upper house, which has been under DPJ control since an election in July.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the New Komeito party, dominate the lower house.

Proposing the bill, the DPJ said the special law should be abolished as it sees no legitimacy in military action in Iraq and the government has yet to fully disclose information on Japanese Self-Defense Force activities there.

Following debate on the bill, the upper house will start deliberating a government-proposed bill to allow Japan to resume the refueling mission in the Indian Ocean to support U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in and around Afghanistan.

Under the special law for the Iraqi reconstruction support, enacted in July 2003, Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force provided noncombat support for two and half years in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah before withdrawing in July 2006.

The ASDF, based in Kuwait, remains involved in transport activities for the multinational forces and the United Nations.