In their first military deployment since World War II, Japan plans to send almost 1,000 troops to Iraq.
“The prime minister’s desire is to start the deployment as early as possible,” said a high-ranking government official. “We have seen the polls that indicate 70 to 80 percent of the public is opposed to the dispatch, but the prime minister will be explaining his decision to the people and he believes they will understand.”
They’ll be joining 40 other nations with support already in the region.
They include: Albania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Czech Republic, Denmark, Georgia, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.
It’s not so unilateral anymore. And never really was.