Iraqi city hopes visit by Japanese brings jobs

By Eric Talmadge
The Associated Press

	ITSUO INOUYE / AP A Japanese convoy, with a part of the first batch of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force main contingent on a mission to Iraq, arrives on Tuesday at the Dutch military base in Samawah.
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"We have families," he said. "We need jobs."

Yasin and the others are convinced they will soon get a break — from Japan.

Tokyo, which is sending about 600 soldiers to rebuild schools and hospitals and supply water to this predominantly Shiite Muslim city in Iraq's southern desert, is expected to pump millions of dollars into the local economy.

People eagerly await the economic boost, but Japanese critics of the mission say its goals are political — not humanitarian — and the townspeople might be disappointed.

As many as 70 percent of the region's 750,000 residents are unemployed, but the Japanese will only need about 500-600 local workers daily. And most of those jobs will be temporary.

Signs along Samawah's rubble-strewn streets, where sheep and camels wander freely, welcome "Mr. Japan." Children wave and smile to the dozens of Japanese journalists camped out to cover the troops.

However, few understand why the Japanese are here.

"They are going to start companies here," said Muhamed Hassen, 18, who was in the marketplace searching for work as a guard or on a construction site.

"As long as they bring us jobs, we are happy they are here."

Mitsugu Saito, a Foreign Ministry official who arrived in Samawah last month with Japan's first troops, said Tokyo is committed to spending $1.5 billion on the reconstruction of Iraq, and is hoping to direct much of that aid to Samawah and its surrounding province.
 
He said as many as 600 local people will be employed every day to help with rebuilding schools and other infrastructure.

"We have many other projects in mind," he added.

With the strong backing of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Japan has pushed ahead with the deployment despite deep concerns that Iraq's continuing instability could make the troops, like other coalition forces, a target for terrorists.

Other critics — including China and North Korea — oppose the deployment because they see it as an ominous departure from Japan's policy of keeping its military out of international disputes, in line with the war-renouncing constitution Japan adopted after the end of World War II in 1945.

The prime minister is an outspoken proponent of expanding the role of Japan's so-called Self-Defense Forces, saying he advocates making them a "real" military. He has offered a broad promise that Samawah will benefit from the mission and has stressed that the troops are being sent to help, not fight.

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