TOKYO, Feb. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- Japan's Self-Defense Forces (SDF) will end their Iraq reconstruction mission when the war-ravaged country establishes a government and gets back on its feet economically, Defense Agency Director General Shigeru Ishiba said Friday.

    "We will see when money, or the economy, really circulates by tapping oil, for example. We will withdraw when the country begins to be run by the Iraqis," Ishiba told a House of Councilors committee session.

    Ishiba reiterated that Japan decided to send SDF troops to provide humanitarian aid in order to help ensure a stable oil supply and also in view of the security alliance with the United States.

    "We have to do something for the stability of the Middle East as we need a stable supply of oil," he said.

    "In addition, it is only the United States that says it will defend Japan in case of contingency. Japan's participation at a time the United States is struggling in Iraq with big sacrifices will certainly help improve our reliability," he said.

    Under a special law enacted last July, Japan is deploying 550 Ground Self-Defense Force troops in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah and has sent three C-130 transport planes of the Air Self-Defense Force to Kuwait for humanitarian and reconstruction duties.

    The law limits the Japanese troops' activities to "noncombat" zones and their use of weapons to self-defense purposes under Japan's war-renouncing Constitution.

    But Ishiba said the troops will use arms to protect not only themselves but also people who come under their control, and that journalists and nongovernmental aid workers who move along with the SDF will be included.

    Ishiba made the remarks in response to questions from opposition lawmakers in the upper house's Special Committee on Humanitarian Reconstruction Support for Iraq and Responses to Armed Attacks. Enditem