Japanese Rebuff Rumsfeld on Eve of Visit

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer

TOKYO - Any hope Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld had of being greeted in Japan with government assurances of a speedy dispatch of troops to Iraq were dashed even before he arrived Friday.

Rumsfeld was whisked directly from the airport to an evening meeting with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, whose government announced a day earlier while Rumsfeld was visiting Guam that it almost certainly will delay sending a contingent of non-combat troops until sometime next year.

Japan is one of America's most steadfast allies _ arguably the most important in Asia _ and it has pledged billions of dollars in financial aid for Iraq's reconstruction. The Bush administration had hoped the Japanese also would send troops before the end of the year. But after Wednesday's deadly attack on the Italian compound in south-central Iraq, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda backed off, saying the security situation in Iraq is not yet stable enough.

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