Japan reportedly paying Y10 bil to Iraqis to guard SDF

TOKYO — The Japanese government is reportedly paying approximately 10 billion yen to Iraqi tribal leaders to provide bodyguards for the Self-defense Forces in Iraq...

...Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's main concern has been how to protect the lives of the SDF soldiers. One of the measures that the government initially took was to have Dutch forces guard the SDF.

Last year, Abdul Amir Rikaabi, the powerful leader of an Iraqi tribe, visited Japan and Koizumi made a confidential agreement with him in which Japan would pay a huge amount of money in exchange for protection, according to a source in the Prime Minister's Office.

"Mr Rikaabi told us that he would organize 200 to 300 guards to protect Japan's SDF soldiers until the main unit arrived in Samawah. The SDF will construct their camps within double barbed wire entanglements in the suburbs of Samawah and engage in supplying water to the city. The Iraqi guards will provide 24-hour patrols and in the event of a terrorist attack, Dutch troops will help out," said the source....

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What's the point of having soldiers that are incapable of defending themselves???? </font>

It's IN TRANSITION. A lot of countries are putting up money to train and get soldiers and police up-to-speed in Iraq. Rather than just *STOP* one day and have every foreigner walk home, there will be a slow transition. This seems to be a part of the larger program, as far as I can tell. In a nutshell, what few troops there currently are can use whatever temporary help they can get while enough more troops get trained to make a respectable force.

Bodyguards for a self-defence force? That don't seem right does it?

Will the hired Iraqis be beholden/sworn over to any lawful political body? Or will this be temporary muscle-work for the 'bodyguards'? Getting mercenaries involved in a regional conflict that has a long tribal warlord tradition doesn't seem like a good idea to me.