The Asianist

Asahi Online reports:

An apparent terrorist threat forced organizers to abruptly cancel a rally in Iraq on Sunday intended to support the Japanese Self-Defense Forces stationed in Samawah.

The rally was arranged by an Iraqi sports group and an association that wanted to show its appreciation of Japan's goodwill in the area, organizers said.

"We wanted to express our gratitude for Japan's contributions for promoting sports activities here, but we had to cancel it to avoid trouble," one of the organizers said.

Yes, there are Japanese troops in Iraq, about 550 of them. While Poland and Italy are winding down their contingents, South Korea actually increased its deployment to Iraq to 3,600 troops.

Of course, most Americans are unaware of troop contributions from our Asian and other allies, because the mainstream news media suddenly discovers allies in this "unilateral" war only when they draw down their participation.