Air Self-Defense Force's main unit leaves for Iraq

The first group of the main Air Self-Defense Force unit to be deployed to Iraq in support of the U.S.-British military occupation of Iraq left Japan for Kuwait on January 22.

A government plane left Komaki Air Base in Aichi Prefecture with 110 ASDF personnel.

The ASDF unit is expected to start their activities in Iraq in February after receiving training in Kuwait.

About 100 people held an urgent rally near the air base in protest against the SDF dispatch. The rally was organized by the Aichi Action Committee against the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty.

The protest rally was also attended by representatives of the Japanese Communist Party and the Aichi Peace Committee.

A 67-year-old woman said, "The situation in Iraq reminds me of what happened in Japan 59 years ago. Our tax money should be used for improving Iraqi children's living conditions instead of for dispatching the SDF to Iraq." (end)