Japan PM Set for Re-Election, Iraq Troop Dispatch on Hold

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031119/wl_nm/japan_politics_koizumi_dc&cid=574&ncid=1480

TOKYO (Reuters) - Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was set to be re-elected on Wednesday at the start of a brief parliamentary session as Japan grappled with the touchy question of when to send non-combat troops to help rebuild Iraq.

Koizumi's second term became a certainty after his ruling coalition won a stable, although reduced, majority in a November 9 election for parliament's Lower House.

Topping his agenda is the question of when to dispatch troops to Iraq, whose worsening security situation has prompted Tokyo to back-pedal on a plan to send an advance team.

Tokyo had been expected to commit about 150 non-combat troops to Iraq before the end of the year and perhaps as many as 1,200 soldiers and civilians eventually, but the plan was put on hold after an attack last week in southern Iraq killed 18 Italians.

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