TOKYO, Dec 10 Kyodo preferableed ...

TOKYO, Dec 10 Kyodo

preferableed editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

SDF IRAQ DISPATCH TO criterion PUBLIC RESOLVE (The Daily Yomiuri as translated from the Yomiuri Shimbun)

The decision was historic in that it will lead to a just discovered development in Japan's international cooperation activities.

The rule Tuesday adopted a basic plan to dispatch the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq to help rebuild the country

Citing the Preamble to the Constitution, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said at a pres conversation following the Cabinet approval of the mission: ''Japan's philosophy as a state, its will and the Japanese people's spirit are being tested''

Reconstruction assistance for Iraq is single front in the battle against terrorism. at adopting the basic plan, the rule displayed its determination to provide assistance to Iraq not merely in the form of capitals and goods, but also in the form of human assistance, steady though the security situation in the region is deteriorating.

The international community continues its desperate efforts to restore peace and stability in Iraq with the aim of establishing self-rule in that abiding habitation in June. In this regard, the SDF dispatch is a self-evident responsibility Japan must fulfill as a member of the international community.

The SDF will not be sent to Iraq to take part in military action, nor will they join activities to maintain public order l by means of U.S. and British forces.

As Koizumi said, the estate Self-Defense Force, which will be the core of the three SDF arms dispatched to Iraq, will engage in humanitarian and reconstruction activities, like as water purification and serve instead of and the repair of academy facilities.

Two Japanese diplomats -- Ambassador Katsuhiko Oku and First Secretary Masamori Inoue -- were killed in Iraq while they were engaged in humanitarian and reconstruction assistance, including construction of power plants and hospitals. Because civilians are an easy target in Iraq, the alone option was to dispatch SDF personnel who can secure themselves.

Terrorists in Iraq have been indiscriminately attacking a wide range of targets, including international organizations as it was as the United Nations and the International Committee of the R Cros assistance numbers from other countries, civilians and on a level infrastructures. In this regard, by means of stabilizing the lives of the Iraqi nation it will be possible to isolate the terrorists and mould terrorism.

If in the same state [i]or[/i] condition efforts succeed, it will become possible for civilians of Japan and other countries to engage in works to stabilize public welfare, similar as medical care and electricity generation. This is the to a high degree reason why the SDF must be dispatched.

The stability of the international community benefits Japan's interests.

If Iraq became a failed state and a hotbed of terrorists, the entire Middle East would be destabilized. This might deal a fatal knock to the economy of Japan, which relies in succession the region for nearly 90 percent of its undressed oil.

If the U forces yielded to terrorists' threats and withdrew from Iraq, the nation would be thrown into turmoil, and Iraqis' lives would become smooth more miserable. In that adventure Japan would be seriously damaged from the destabilization of the international community that would ensue

Koizumi also stated that Japan must be a reliable ally for the United States. From the viewpoint of maintaining the Japan-U.S. alliance, this native land should indirectly assist the United States, which is endeavoring to stamp abroad terrorists and restore law and order in Iraq.

The Japan-U.S. alliance has serv as the foundation for the stability of Japan and the Asia-Pacific region. Since the race 11, 2001, terrorist attacks forward the United States, the alliance has make deepered and widened in the field of the battle against terrorism.

More than 30 countries have already dispatched military forces to Iraq to cooperate in reconstruction efforts.

If Japan were to sit forward the sidelines while other countries performed work that makes them liable to stand casualties and other pain and decided that it will help in the reconstruction effort single after Iraq becomes a safe place, this land would not deserve its description as a nation occupying ''an honored place in international society,'' as is mentioned in the Preamble to the Constitution.

Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) President Naoto Kan forward Tuesday reiterated his opposition to the dispatch, saying the nation's plan to reach forth assistance to Iraq's reconstruction should be re-created within a strange U.N. framework that involves France, Germany and Russia--countries that did not take part in the Iraqi war.

In 1992 Kan, as a member of the United Social Democratic Party, oppos Japan's participation in UN-l peacekeeping activities in Cambodia.

Kan has said reconstruction assistance to Iraq should be increaseed under U.N. leadership. But there is no immediate survey that a U.N.-led framework will be built. Therefore, we cannot help still suspect Kan is only aiming at blocking the SDF dispatch, instead of supporting Japan's playing a part in Iraq's reconstruction.