Pentagon Is Set to Activate Thousands More Reservists
By ERIC SCHMITT
WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 - The Pentagon is preparing for a major call-up of National Guard and Reserve troops, a move that would fill military jobs that would be critical if the United States goes to war against Iraq, Defense Department officials said today.
The size and timing of the mobilizations hinges heavily on Iraq's response to the United Nations resolution requiring Baghdad to disarm, and the pace of the international arms inspections.
In what is likely to be only the first wave of new call-ups, the Pentagon is expected in the next several days to activate as many as 10,000 reservists, mainly military police units, for security duty here and abroad, officials said. They would join the 50,755 reservists now mobilized for the defense of the United States after Sept. 11 and for the war in Afghanistan.
But if President Bush orders an attack against Iraq, the Pentagon has plans to summon to active duty roughly as many reservists as it did during the Persian Gulf war in 1991, when about 265,000 members of the National Guard and Reserves were called up. No final decisions have been made on these larger mobilizations, officials said.
"Activating reserves is significant because it will affect every community in America, and it sends a signal that the president is serious," a senior military official said.
As Pentagon officials considered the Reserve issue, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz asked NATO nations in Brussels to contribute forces to an American-led military campaign to oust President Saddam Hussein. In another effort to build a broad international coalition, the White House today invited the leader of the largest party in Turkey's new governing coalition to meet with President Bush next week....
The Pentagon and the White House are handling the Reserve issue with great care. When and whom to mobilize are tricky, officials said. Defense officials want to mobilize reservists early enough to allow commanders to move quickly if President Bush orders an attack against Iraq. They also want to honor as best they can the Pentagon's policy of giving reservists 30 days' notice before mobilizing, to allow them to get their affairs in order and for their employers to find replacements....But activating reservists too early could backfire. Pentagon officials said they want to avoid calling up tens of thousands of reservists during the holiday season, disrupting their families, jobs and schooling, especially if the international arms inspections in Iraq delay any offensive for weeks or months, and leave mobilized reservists with little to do.
"You don't want to jerk the reservists around," a senior military official said. "If you call them up before Christmas and don't give them something meaningful to do, that's dumb."...
<http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/05/politics/05RESE.html> -- Yoshie
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