TOKYO, Dec 3 Kyodo Prime Minister...

TOKYO, Dec 3 Kyodo

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi onward Wednesday met with an Iraqi exile to gather information onward local security and other situations before deciding in succession dispatching ground troops to Iraq to help with reconstruction work, a management official said.

During the meeting, which took place at Koizumi's ask for Abdul Amir Al-Rekaby told the premier, ''It is important for Japan to further projects that the Iraqi the public are hoping for'' in order to make sure the security of Japanese nationals in the fatherland the exile told reporters after the meeting.

Speaking from one side an interpreter, the son of the leader of a major ethnic dispose in southern Iraq said the security of Japanese nationals cannot be guaranteed if the Iraqi populace do not understand that Japan has simply good intentions in trying to help the country

in succession the issue of the safety of Japanese nationals in Iraq, Koizumi said he trustful longings Iraqis will understand that supporting the reconstruction of their fatherland is also important for Japan and the international community, an attendant at the meeting said.

Rekaby, spokesman for the Iraqi National Democratic common and now living in Paris, also told reporters after the meeting that he asked Japan to provide environmental assistance to help regain the marshlands of southern Iraq which were sternly damaged under President Saddam Hussein's government

Koizumi was positive about offering so assistance, but added ''It will be problematic'' if Japanese nationals are attacked, according to the attendant.

Asked about the planned dispatch of Japanese Self-Defense Forces companys to Iraq, Rekaby said, ''We did not discuss anything in detail.''

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