By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington
Published: June 30 2004 0:27 | Last Updated: June 30 2004 0:27 Financial Times
The Pentagon yesterday said it was recalling 5,600 reservists for active duty, underlining the strain that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are placing on the US military.
In spite of Monday's handover of sovereignty to Iraq, the US-led multinational force is expected to maintain its troop levels of more than 140,000 for the time being as Iraq moves towards elections next January.
The army plans to tap reservists from a 111,000-strong pool called the Individual Ready Reserve, which includes career soldiers who chose to finish out eight-year commitment to the military in the reserves.
Lieutenant Colonel Pamela Hart, an army spokeswoman, said the decision to recall IRR reservists was not unusual, adding that the US recalled about 20,000 soldiers from the group during the first Gulf war.
But she conceded that the war on terrorism and maintaining forces in Iraq were putting a strain on the US military. "It is a difficult time," said Lt Col Hart.
The decision comes as President George W. Bush attempts to convince an increasingly sceptical public about the merit of his decision to invade Iraq. According to the latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, 54 per cent of Americans now believe he should not have sent troops to Iraq - the first time a majority of Americans have expressed disapproval of the invasion.
Republicans have this week also been fending off criticism implicitly raised by Michael Moore, whose Fahrenheit 9/11, a film about Mr Bush's decision to invade Iraq, which broke box-office records for a documentary this weekend.
"The army has made every effort to minimise the call-up's impact by first contacting individual IRR soldiers and soliciting volunteers, prior to initiating mandatory call-ups," the army said in a statement. Despite such efforts, only 1,100 soldiers from the IRR have volunteered for active duty since the September 11 2001 attacks on the US.
Togo West, the former navy secretary, said recent decisions to increase troop levels in Iraq vindicated General Eric Shinseki, who was rebuked by the Pentagon's civilian leaders for arguing that the US needed several hundred thousand troops to complete the mission in Iraq.
"He was demonstrated to be more right than not," said Mr West.
Last month, the Pentagon announced that the army would prevent soldiers whose units are scheduled to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan from leaving the military until after they return from serving in the Middle East.
The latest Pentagon figures reveal that almost 1,000 US soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Posted by rowan at June 29, 2004 5:29 PM