From AP…

A panel of Japanese lawmakers approved a two-year extension on Monday of the country’s air force mission in Iraq, brushing off criticism that Tokyo should distance itself from Washington’s increasingly unpopular war there.
The approval was a further victory for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is trying to raise Japan’s military profile around the world. Earlier Monday, Parliament’s upper house passed guidelines for amending the pacifist constitution to possibly allow the military to take on more prominent roles in future conflicts.
Japan backed the U.S.-led Iraq invasion and provided troops for a non-combat, humanitarian mission in the southern city of Samawah beginning in 2004. Tokyo withdrew its ground troops in July 2006 and has since expanded its Kuwait-based operations to airlift U.N. and coalition personnel and supplies into Baghdad.

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