Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi is expected to come under fire in parliament next week over his insistence that he had made the right decision to support the war in Iraq, despite a US government report saying no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) had been found there.

The report by US chief weapons inspector Charles Duelfer concluded that Iraq had no WMD stockpiles, contrary to Washington's claim before the war in March last year.

Repeating a well-worn line, Mr Koizumi told reporters in Hanoi on Thursday: "If Iraq had cooperated with the inspections, there would have been no war. Our decision to support was based on United Nations resolutions."

But opposition parties are preparing to grill the Japanese leader when parliament opens next Tuesday.

Said Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) lawmaker Yukio Hatoyama: "The report refutes completely the evidence for starting the Iraqi war."

"PM Koizumi supported the US attack based on inaccurate data. It is sophistry to use the pretext that Iraq flouted UN resolutions," stressed Mr Hatoyama, who is foreign minister in the DPJ's shadow Cabinet.

In March last year, Mr Koizumi cited WMDs in Iraq as a reason for backing Washington. He even asserted that they would be found in due course.

"If such weapons fall into the hands of dictators or terrorists, thousands of people will lose their lives. If it is assessed that Saddam has no wish to disarm, I think it is appropriate to support the US decision to use military force," he told the Japanese, most of whom oppose the war.

But since then, Japanese officials have said the decision to back the US is based on former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's refusal to assist UN inspectors.

On Thursday, the government's chief spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda, even tried to dismiss the Duelfer report, saying: 'The question of responsibility does not arise.'

But the Mainichi Shimbun daily retorted in an editorial: 'Now that WMDs do not exist, why is it not Koizumi's responsibility? He must explain again why he supported the war.'

Mr Koizumi will also face new pressures in parliament for his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to come clean on a shady money scandal that has stained many of the party's veterans, including former premier Ryutaro Hashimoto.

The opposition wants Mr Hashimoto, who allegedly received a cheque for 100 million yen (S$1.52 million) from the Japan Dental Association, to testify in parliament.

The LDP rejected the idea, but Mr Koizumi gave the opposition demand a fillip when he suggested that Mr Hashimoto should do so."No matter where the venue, as a politician, he should give a proper explanation," said Mr Koizumi.

Although Mr Hashimoto's faction was said to have tried to hide the money, prosecutors have decided not to file charges against the ex-premier - who has since stepped down as faction leader - due to lack of evidence of his role in the affair.

Source: Agencies