TOKYO (Reuters) - A team of Japanese soldiers left for Iraq (news - web sites) on Friday as police, on alert for terrorist attacks, tightened security ahead of what may become Japan's riskiest overseas military mission since World War II.
After a series of send-off ceremonies in Tokyo, about 30 members of the Ground Self-Defense Force, as Japan's army is called, left for southeastern Iraq, an advance unit of a force that could include up to 1,000 troops.
If I was running the Iraqi resistance, finding and killing a few of these soldiers would be a high priority to me. The Japanese people aren't behind this and thus they are a weak link. Good luck to them (the Japanese that is) going to Iraq with a big target on your chest isn't going to be a lot of fun.