Japan's defense chief, arguing yesterday in support of a widely opposed troop dispatch to Iraq, said Tokyo's mission was humanitarian but that only the military was sufficiently equipped to carry it out.
Also, media reported the government had decided to beef up the weaponry that the Japanese ground troops will use when they head for their reconstruction work in southern Iraq.
"The reason it is necessary to have ground troops [in Iraq] is so that each person will feel they benefited because Japan came to help," defense chief Shigeru Ishiba said on a program aired by public broadcaster NHK.
"To provide medical assistance, help repair schools, provide clean water -- the Self-Defense Forces have the capability to do these things," he said.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has pledged to send Japan's military to help rebuild Iraq. But he hasn't given specifics about the mission's timing and size, amid public criticism that it could get troops embroiled in growing violence and make Japan a terrorist target.
Opposition has intensified since two Japanese diplomats were killed there by gunmen on Nov. 29 -- the country's first casualties in the US-led war in Iraq.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
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