US tells 27,000 reserve troops to prepare for duty

10.15am

WASHINGTON - In a fresh sign of preparation for possible war with Iraq, the United States has ordered another 27,000 Reserve and National Guard troops to prepare for active duty, defence officials have said.

The alert was issued by the Pentagon on Saturday (NZ time) and the services were identifying units ranging from Navy port workers to Army engineers to be prepared for a likely call to active duty early in the new year.

"Defence Secretary (Donald) Rumsfeld has not given a final call-up order, but the troops are being alerted to get ready," one of the officials, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters. They said the new call-up could go as high as 30,000 troops.

The New York Times reported on Saturday that Army units would include military police, engineers and supply specialists and that the Navy was planning to notify at least 1,000 ship cargo specialists and other port workers.

There are already more than 50,000 part-time US reservists on active duty from all US services, part of a call-up sparked by the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

The defence officials spoke after the military on Friday began giving mandatory smallpox vaccinations to the first of 500,000 US troops, including medical response teams and key units that might go to war or support combat against Baghdad over weapons of mass destruction. That inoculation effort was ordered by President Bush.

If Bush orders an attack against Iraq, the Pentagon is expected to activate up to 200,000 reservists to fill key posts in the military from piloting warplanes to shipping arms. Many of them would also guard bases and key civilian facilities at home and replace regular Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force troops sent off to battle.

A total of 265,000 National Guard and Reserve members were called to duty during the 1991 Gulf War.

In addition to the nearly 30,000 to be alerted under Friday night's order, defence officials said last week that the Army was preparing to call up 8,000 or more of its National Guard and Reserve troops to help provide security at American air bases.

Those troops would likely replace Air Force Guard and Reserve people who have been already on active duty for nearly a year.

- REUTERS

Herald feature: Iraq