Japan's Parliament Approves Controversial Iraq Troops

World | July 26, 2003, Saturday // 00:00
Japan's Parliament Approves Controversial Iraq Troops Opposition lawmakers in Japan rush to the chairman to stop the passage of a bill allowing Self Defense Forces to be sent to Iraq. Photo by AFP

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi vowed to harness public support for the controversial decision to send Japanese troops to Iraq approved in a parliamentary session choked by dissent. The upper house of parliament voted in the early hours to approve the deployment of troops to Iraq in what will be the first dispatch since World War II of Japanese military personnel to a country where fighting is continuing. Voting was delayed for hours by stalling tactics from the opposition parties -- including an unsuccessful no confidence motion in Koizumi -- who said deploying troops to Iraq would contravene Japan's pacifist constitution. Yelling and scrambling opposition MPs surrounded the upper house committee chairman dealing with the Iraq motion but were unable to stop the passage of the bill by the committee and a later plenary session.
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