Japan's defence chief acknowledged on Thursday that public opinion was divided on sending troops to Iraq but said the risky deployment was vital to the national interests of Japan, which depends on the Middle East for oil.
Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba is expected to order soon, perhaps on Friday, the dispatch of an advance team of about 30 army personnel to southern Iraq in what could be Japan's biggest and riskiest overseas mission since World War Two.
"We depend on the Middle East for some 90 percent of our oil supply. Therefore we must absolutely avoid a situation in which the Middle East is politically unstable and becomes a haven for terrorists and weapons of mass destruction," Ishiba told a news conference.
The advance team, which could leave for Samawa in southern Iraq via Kuwait around January 16, will act as scouts for a force that could include up to 600 soldiers and 1,000 personnel in all.
The deployment is a big political gamble for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who is keeping a promise to the United States, Japan's key security ally, despite public fears about sending troops to what many view as a de facto war zone - a step critics say violates Tokyo's post-war, pacifist constitution.
Ishiba is one of a growing new breed of politicians who want Japan's military to have a broader international role.
"Public opinion is split and naturally some are for and some are opposed to the dispatch," he said. "Their families are worried and there are many who do not want to go.
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