The three ruling parties in Japan agreed Friday to pass a bill on Wednesday that will allow the government to dispatch military forces to Iraq to assist in reconstruction work, moving the schedule up two days.
According to Kyodo News, the parliamentary affairs chiefs of the Liberal Democratic Party, the New Komeito party and the New Conservative Party decided to ask the House of Councillors to vote on the bill at the committee level on Tuesday and at its plenary session on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Japanese Premier Junichiro Koizumi was harshly criticized on Friday for his support to the U.S. invasion to Iraq.
Koizumi was forced to answer questions in parliament ahead of an upcoming visit by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who himself has been criticized for his support for George Bush's decision to launch the war against Iraq. "The prime minister asserted that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, supported the U.S. military action and justified the Iraq war," said Naoto Kan, head of the Democratic Party, Japan's leading opposition party, according to Reuters. "What is the ground for your assertion?," he asked.
On his turn, the Japanese prime minister said the war was justified because Saddam Hussein's regime had used weapons of mass destruction in the past. (Albawaba.com)
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