Goodbye Iraq!

As a result, when Koizumi decided to send 600 ground troops to Iraq with the declared purpose of a humanitarian mission, a sense of unease set in, as the decision also called into question the validity of a specific article of country's constitution that prohibits Japan from any kind of military involvement overseas. The troops were anyway sent to Iraq without resolving the constitutional issue.

The government simply relied on a bill that was later approved by the Diet setting a timeframe for the deployment and went ahead with the plan. Accordingly around 600 members of the Ground Self Defense Force were sent to Iraq's southern city of Samawah, where a rotation of troops signifies Japanese presence in the country until the withdrawal is to be completed by early next month.

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Announcing the decision of withdrawal from Iraq early last week, Prime Minister Koizumi said the humanitarian aid activities of the Self Defense Force have accomplished their role. The people of Japan are obviously relieved that the withdrawal is now underway and the two-and-a-half year mission is coming to an end without the loss of a single Japanese life. Though Japanese officials are boasting of the success of the Iraq mission, many questions related to the mission and what it indeed gave Japan remains unsolved.

We know for sure that though Japanese officials think the deployment of troops in Iraq was successful and it accomplished the purpose for which troops were sent to Iraq, the overall situation of Iraq did not improve at all. The sectarian violence has intensified in recent months and public security deteriorated to an unprecedented level. The living condition of average Iraqis is now far below what used to be during the days of Saddam Hussein. Can this situation be considered a proper sign of reconstruction or progress? Japanese policy makers might feel happy by telling there own people so, but no one in Iraq or its surrounding perimeters are going to believe so.

What then prompted Japanese leadership to complete a mission so hurriedly that they started with so much publicity? The short answer in obviously fear. Japan is afraid that once the protecting shield of the presence of the British troops is withdrawn; there might be the emergence of a free for all situation when it would no longer be possible to avoid casualties.

The constitutional bindings do not allow Japanese troops to get involved in combat situation overseas. This means, despite carrying heavy weapons, Japanese troops are not supposed to use such weaponry in case a situation to do so arises. This was also the reason why at the beginning of the mission they were given the choice of a relatively safer place in Iraq to operate. Samawah is the main city of the southern Iraqi province of Muthanna, a deserted land with few localities composed of Shite majority. Hence, Samawah was seen as a safe heaven in an otherwise volatile country where the non-combative Japanese soldiers would find a friendly atmosphere to get involved in their humanitarian tasks.

But once in the field, the Japanese did not find Samawah as safe as they were told. There were a number of incidents of mortar and rocket fires on the Japanese camp and vehicles serving the Japanese troops also occasionally came under attack. As a result, there was a need of an effective protective shield for the Japanese troops to operate in relative safety and that protection was provided by the British military presence in the south of Iraq.

It looks funny that soldiers, a full-fledged army who went to Iraq to help Iraqis improve their own situation, themselves needed the protection of other multi-national forces. But for Japan it was no fun at all and the leadership was deadly serious in completing the noble mission. The Japanese government is now saying that since Iraq at last could get its own elected government, it is now time to allow the people of the country to take charge of their own destiny and hence the time has come for the Japanese soldiers to say goodbye to Iraq.

As part of its own partial withdrawal, the British forces in Iraq have decided to hand over the security arrangement of Muthanna province to the Iraqis. This prompted Japan to think seriously what might happen in case Japan continues her presence in Iraq after the security arrangements in the area are handed over to the newly formed Iraqi military units. A total collapse is an option that cannot be ruled out and such a scenario might otherwise mean an all out assault on Japanese positions. So, the fear factor obviously played a very important role in deciding to end abruptly a so called humanitarian mission that was supposed to ease the life of Iraqis. And what in reality this two-and-a-half year long mission achieved?

The main activities of the Self Defense Force in Iraq were to provide water supply within their heavily protected fortress-like camps and hire local people to rebuild and repair a number of schools and other facilities in surrounding areas. But in each and every task the security of Japanese military personnel was the top priority and in taking the decision to withdraw from Iraq also it remained so. As a result, the part of the Japanese media critical to Iraq deployment is asking the question, if there was at all a need for Japan to go for such an expensive endeavour that hardly benefited Iraqis.

But who really cares for the Iraqis? We know for sure, George W Bush and his colleagues and aides at the White House and Pentagon care more for the safety of Americans in Iraq and also for the precious resources buried deep under the Iraqi soil. And as for Japan, it was more important to show that the country is an important ally, not of the people of Iraq, but of George Bush and his company.

Hence, the need to show the world that the "coalition of the willing" was indeed a broad based coalition played a crucial role for Japan to join and become a party of a war that has already been proved to be unjustified. What a few Iraqis in and around Samawah received in return was just the supply of water and nothing else. No wonder that in an interview given to Japan's public broadcasting station NHK, the Samawah representative of Muktada Al-Sadr's Party did not hesitate to say that the Japanese presence failed to keep up with their expectations.