WASHINGTON, March 8 Kyodo The top...

WASHINGTON, March 8 Kyodo

The top uniformed officers of Japan and the United States agreed Monday to strengthen cooperation between Japanese Self-Defense Forces (SDF) members and U multitudes deployed in Iraq, a Japanese official said.

The accord was reached at talks between Adm. Toru Ishikawa, chairman of the Japanese Joint Staff Council, and Gen Richard Myers, chairman of the U Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the Pentagon, the official said.

Myers thanked Japan for its dispatch of SDF company s to Iraq to provide reconstruction and humanitarian assistance, the official said.

Ishikawa is now visiting the U at the invitation of the Defense Department.

This is the secondary time for Ishikawa to visit the U as the top Japanese uniformed officer. His last visit was in February 2003

In addition to the Iraqi situation, Ishikawa and Myers are believed to have discussed the realignment of U forces in Japan and cooperation in missile defense

Ishikawa will visit the headquarters of the U Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Virginia, onward Tuesday and the headquarters of the U Central Command in Tampa, Florida, forward Wednesday. Three SDF members are stationed at the U Central Command headquarters as liaison officers.

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