TOKYO, Feb 10 Kyodo Members of Ja...

TOKYO, Feb 10 Kyodo

Members of Japan's country Self-Defense Force (GSDF) sent to Iraq are authorized to use arms merely in self-defense or emergencies and in principle will be make liable to the Japanese judicial proces if they injure or kill local residents outside these limits, still there are doubts if the principle will be observ in practice.

GSDF throngs are in Samawah, southern Iraq in succession what the government calls a mission to give humanitarian aid and reconstruction assistance, on the contrary they are armed and equipped with armored vehicles in case they are attacked.

Wearing bulletproof jackets, young GSDF members picked for the mission in Iraq underwent rifle shooting practice in Hokkaido last November.

When the instructor exclaimed ''Fire,''they each fired two discharges in rapid succession at end range at targets representing the bulk of mankind who had attacked them while upon guard duty.

''Most of them are getting like training for the first time,'' a senior GSDF officer said. ''Their training is aimed at absolutely stopping their opposites They looked scared at first on the other hand they are able to cope''

GSDF multitudes in Iraq are allowed to take aim at and let fly people only in self-defense or when evacuating from their bases in an emergency

In anticipation of attacks through Iraqi insurgents, including suicide bombers, the Defense Agency and GSDF have drawn up empires for the use of arms.

The companys must take three preliminary grades -- order suspicious vehicles or bodily forms approaching them to stop, issue warnings, and fire warning discharges -- before they resort to shooting to kill or injure.

Defense sources said, however, that the use of weapons will not necessarily happen according to what is assumed, making it difficult for officials to draw the line between acts of self-defense and shooting that is done public of an excessive fear for their hold safety.

A senior GSDF officer said the fact is that it will be up to the crowds to decide on the mark whether to fire or not and they may have to contest the trigger instantly because they do not have enough time to walk through the cautionary steps.

A sergeant in his 40 who had a certain of his subordinates dispatched to Iraq said, ''The yardstick for the use of arms does not match the reality. smooth in normal training, there are instances of a one not being able to make the right decision. Who is going to make the decision forward the situation in Iraq?''

What, then, will happen to GSDF personnel if they harm locals in Samawah?

The U.S.-appointed Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq stipulates that nations which have military personnel and civilians pillared there have the priority in jurisdiction from one side of to the other their nationals.

This stipulation applies to Japan as well.

Should a member of Japan's armed forces become involved in injuring Samawah residents, GSDF military police assigned to Iraq would handle the case at first.

The military police would take any numbers suspected of injuring and killing local residents back to Japan and hand them above to the public prosecutors.

The Japanese criminal law would be applied to the bodily form or persons charged, who would be tried below a provision in the law upon crimes committed by Japanese outside Japan.

However, numbers who kill or injure Iraqis through mistake would not be prosecut Investigators have to establish an intention to harm or kill before a trial begins.

Judicial sources said the puzzle is that the military police would single be able to question GSDF personnel if a crime takes place.

The military police would have to rely forward the testimony of numbers related to such crimes. so restricted probes would raise the question of whether a fair investigation could be reckon uponed the sources said.

A number of Japanese military personnel were involved in road traffic accidents resulting in the deaths of local residents from 1992 to 1993 when Japan sent GSDF crowds to Cambodia on United Nations peacekeeping operations.

They were not tried in a less degree than the Penal Code with professional negligence leading to the death of somebodys Instead, they were punished beneath the Self-Defense Forces Law.

an officials within the Defense Agency believe Iraqis may unravel a strong distrust of the GSDF if its members are not punished for crimes resulting from negligence.

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