Pitching In

Just like an ally:

The government is considering a plan to provide around $5 billion, or about 550 billion yen, to help reconstruct Iraq in the four years beginning in fiscal 2004, government sources said Saturday.

The amount accounts for about 10 percent of the total cost of reconstruction, set at $55 billion for the period between 2004 an 2007, according to the World Bank.

The government's plan is likely to be conveyed to the U.S. when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi meets U.S. President George W. Bush in Tokyo on Oct. 17.

As well as financial support, Japan is also considering giving patrol cars to the Iraqi police and power generators to the U.S. led-Coalition Provisional Authority, the sources said.


It's no surprise, as the Japanese - more than anyone - understand the trials, pains and triumphs of an occupier-led transition from tyranny to freedom. If their contribution is indeed ten percent of an anticipated cost, only nine more patrons need match that amount. I can make a list of countries with no difficulty; those countries themselves can probably put one together just as easily. How many of them, do you think, can accept that they're on it?

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