TOKYO, Dec. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- The Japanese government sanctioned Tuesday a basic plan on the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to Iraq in a cabinet meeting.

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      The plan did not specify the departure time, only saying the mission would be completed by the end of 2004.

    Based on the plan, Defense Agency Director General Shigeru Ishiba will work out, probably next Monday, a guideline stipulating the details of the deployment, including exactly when the first SDF unit would leave for Iraq. Once the guideline is approved by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Ishiba will sign an order for the dispatch.

    "The defense agency chief will draw up a detailed guideline. The dispatch time will be made after that, "said Koizumi at a press conference after the meeting. Koizumi is considering sending an advance team of the Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) possibly later this month, Kyodo News quoted government sources as saying. 

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    A total of about 1,000 troops from the ground, maritime and airforces are expected to be involved in the mission. Up to 600 ground force troops are expected to mainly carry out humanitarian assistance operations, such as supplying potable water, providing medical services and refurbishing hospitals, schools and other public facilities. Their activities will be restricted to the Muthanna region in southeastern Iraq.

    The Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) personnel are allowed to carry heavy equipment, including recoilless guns and armored vehicles. It would be the first time that SDF troops have carried such powerful weapons for an overseas mission.

    Koizumi noted that the SDF will not be engaged in combat operations, but will exercise self-defense when under terrorist attacks.

    In addition, at most eight transport planes and up to four maritime force ships, including amphibious vessels and destroyers will join the mission.

    Koizumi consulted earlier the day with leaders of both ally and opposition parties before his cabinet made the decision.

    Naoto Kan, head of the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan, said his party opposed the plan.

    "Both the decisions to support the US preemptive strike and to promise to deploy SDF troops when security returns are wrong," Kan said, "We cannot agree to a dispatch under a wrong judgment."

    Leaders of the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party also voiced opposition.

    The United States, the most important ally of Japan, has been asking Tokyo to give a hand to its occupation in Iraq, both in fund and manpower. Japan has promised a 5-billion-US-dollar package for reconstruction and endorsed a law in July authorizing SDF participation in humanitarian operations in Iraq.

    Koizumi said Japan should prove itself as a reliable partner of the United States, while adding the SDF will not be transporting weapons and ammunition for US-led forces.

    The move came amid attacks on US and foreign targets are growing in Iraq. Terrorist groups have reportedly warned Japan of assaults if it fields troops to Iraq. Two Japanese diplomats were killed in what the Japanese government believed is an terrorist ambush on Nov. 29 in northern Iraq. Prior to that, shootings at Japanese embassy in Iraq were also reported.

    A survey by NHK television showed Monday 52 percent of Japanese oppose Koizumi's policy over Iraq.

    Koizumi admitted that "Iraq is in a situation where it cannot necessarily be said to be safe."

    He also said the dispatch does not violate Japan's pacifist constitution which forbids Japan to get involved in warfare.

    The deployment of SDF troops in Iraq will be the SDF's largest overseas operations since it first went abroad after the first Gulf War in 1991. Enditem