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Japan Approves Deployment of Troops to Aid U.S. in Iraq

Japan decided today to deploy ground troops to join the American-led war in Iraq, in what will be its most ambitious military operation since its surrender to the United States at the end of World War II.

After months of agonizing, punctuated by the weekend state funeral of two diplomats gunned down in northern Iraq, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's cabinet approved a plan to send up to 600 ground forces to southeastern Iraq, in a mission to last from six months to one year.