The bill authorizes the dispatch of SDF personnel to Iraq to provide humanitarian aid and logistic support for the US-led forces, according to the daily.

On the ground that a new Iraqi government has yet to be established, the bill says the dispatch of the SDF needs no agreement from Iraq. If passed, it would be the first Japanese law authorizing sending peace-keeping forces abroad without permission from the aided country.

Under the bill which has a two-year period of validity, SDF personnel are allowed to use weapons when their lives were threatened.

The Japanese government is poised to submit it to the current parliament session ending on June 18.

Sending the SDF abroad is a sensitive issue in Japan, because it is regarded as the collective defense action which is prohibited by Japan's constitution.

Japan, however, has involved in some UN peace-keeping operations and the US-led campaign against terrorism under new legislation.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reportedly said on Tuesday he will decide whether to create a new law to send the SDF to Iraq after he returns to Japan from the G-8 summit meeting. He is scheduled to get back on Wednesday.

The Japanese government decided last month to send a survey team to Iraq to assess the possibility of the dispatch of the SDF.

(Xinhua News Agency June 4, 2003)