Members of Japan's air force left for the Middle East on Friday to lay the groundwork for the nation's controversial dispatch of troops to Iraq in what may become its biggest and most dangerous military mission since World War II.

The air force personnel are part of an advance team of around 40 members who are traveling to Kuwait and Qatar ahead of a larger unit which is expected to arrive in Iraq in January.

The members of the advance team, wearing civilian clothes, left on a commercial flight from an airport near Tokyo, mixed among businessmen and tourists heading abroad for the New Year holidays.

The team will hold talks with members of the US-led coalition to prepare for the arrival of over 150 personnel and several transport planes early next year.

About 20 wives, daughters and other relatives came to see off the 23 members of Japan's Air Self-Defence Force for the inconspicuous start of what has been a supremely controversial operation.

Some said farewells in private waiting rooms while a few watched silently as the troops passed through a restricted security zone toward metal detectors and their planes.

"The time has come for us to go," Colonel Tadashi Miyagawa told dozens of reporters at the airport before going through security. "Each individual has his own thoughts, but we'll be unified."

The advance contingent was split into groups taking two commercial flights to Kuwait and Qatar, spearheading a total dispatch of about 1,000 personnel on a mission to help restore water services, offer medical aid and rebuild schools and other infrastructure.

The air force units will assess security and make arrangements for a larger 276-member air force contingent charged with shipping medical and food supplies from Kuwait to Iraq. In addition, more than 500 Japanese ground troops will be deployed in southern Iraq in February and March.

The Defence Agency plans to deploy armored vehicles and up to six naval ships, including destroyers, to support its units. Eight aircraft, including three C130 transport planes, will also be dispatched.

The deployment will be a milestone for Japan's military, which is strictly limited by the country's pacifist constitution.

The deployment has raised strong opposition in Japan, where many feel the dispatch violates the constitution, and could lead to casualties in Iraq and terror attacks at home. But Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's government has stressed Japan's responsibility to help US-led coalition forces restore stability to Iraq.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told a news conference on Friday: "We want the military to make big contributions to Iraqi reconstruction and humanitarian assistance. We expect them to fulfill their duties and make major contributions."

Along with the troops, Japan has offered the second-largest pledge for Iraqi reconstruction after the United States, promising US$1.5 billion in grants for 2004 and US$3.5 billion in loans for 2005-07.

When the main unit arrives, it is expected to aid in transporting supplies between Kuwait and Iraq.

The dispatch comes as surveys show that public opinion is deeply divided over the decision to send the military to Iraq.

More than half of the respondents in recent polls said they opposed the plan, while around a third supported it.

The debate over whether to send troops intensified after two Japanese diplomats were gunned down in Iraq late last month.

Koizumi has said that members of the Self-Defence Force, which is what Japan calls its military, would be sent to help with the reconstruction of Iraq and not for combat.

In an apparent bid to get that message across to Arab countries, the prime minister appeared on Qatar-based al-Jazeera television on Thursday.

"The Self-Defense Force is going for reconstruction aid activities and humanitarian aid activities and not for war. I explained this thoroughly," Koizumi told reporters after he was interviewed by the popular Arabic television channel.

Japan's constitution renounces the right to go to war and prohibits the nation from having a military, but has been interpreted as allowing Japan to have forces for self-defense.

(China Daily December 27, 2003)