Japan will provide at least $1 billion in aid for the reconstruction of Iraq, media reports said on Thursday, as the government struggles to balance promises made to Washington with voters' misgivings about the Iraq war.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will want to have something to satisfy President Bush, who is due to visit Tokyo on October 17, but he will also need to avoid alienating the Japanese public ahead of a general election widely expected in November.

"Japan has begun preparations to offer about $1 billion to help rebuild Iraq...but the sum has yet to be finalized and could swell to as much as $3 billion if Tokyo finds Washington is seeking more from it," Kyodo news agency said on Thursday, quoting a government source.

That compares with the $11 billion Japan provided for the 1991 Gulf War.

Top government spokesman Yasuo Fukuda said no decision had been made.

"The complete picture has yet to emerge," he said. "It's not just Japan, but we need to consider what other countries will do...and build an international consensus. This is not the stage for Japan to announce its plans." A proposal on aid is likely to be made to Bush during his visit to Tokyo and then officially announced at an international donors' meeting on Iraq in Madrid from October 23.

JAPANESE TROOPS

Even more controversial is the issue of dispatching troops to Iraq.

Japan passed a law in July enabling its Self-Defense Forces to go to Iraq on a humanitarian mission, but concern has been rising about safety because of continuing attacks on coalition troops and the suicide bombing of the United Nations' offices in Baghdad.

Japan's troops have not fired a shot in combat since the country's World War II defeat in 1945 and, in keeping with the nation's pacifist constitution, the government has said they would be sent only to non-combat zones.

A fact-finding mission -- an essential prerequisite to sending troops -- finally left on Sunday to check the security and political situation in Iraq.

But given the time needed for the mission to prepare its report after returning, it could be difficult for Koizumi to have a concrete proposal on the dispatch of troops to present to Bush when they meet in October.

Koizumi, who has said the July law made dispatch possible but not certain, has to avoid upsetting a nervous public ahead of a general election that may be called for November, prompting speculation troops are unlikely to be dispatched before then.

Koizumi has maintained a pro-U.S. stance on Iraq in the face of strong public opposition.

Polls at the outbreak of the U.S.-led war in March showed about two in three Japanese voters opposed the war and a July poll showed more than half were against sending troops to Iraq.

Masahiko Komura, a former foreign minister and one of four candidates vying for Koizumi's job in a party election this week, said that restoring stability to Iraq was in Japan's national interest and that Japanese troops should play their part.

"We'd like to help as much as possible," he told a news conference. "If non-combat zones can be verified within Iraq, then I believe the SDF should be dispatched."

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