Tokyo, July 26: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi vowed today to win over public support for the controversial decision to send the country's troops to Iraq after Parliament approved the move amid scenes of uproar. The upper house of Parliament voted in the early hours of this morning to allow the government to send troops to Iraq in what will be the first dispatch since World War II of its military personnel to a country where fighting is continuing.
Voting was delayed for hours due to stalling tactics by the opposition parties, including an unsuccessful no confidence motion in Koizumi. The opposition said the deployment of 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.
Shortly afterwards, Koizumi told reporters he believed he would be able to "gain people's understanding in the days ahead".
"When they look back in the future, they will think the legislation was good for the country," Jiji press news agency quoted the prime minister as saying.
A poll in the influential daily Asahi Shimbun showed Tuesday that 55 per cent of Japanese were opposed to the troop dispatch to Iraq, while 33 per cent voiced support.
Bureau Report