US activates 15,718 more troops in Iraq build-up

11.20am

WASHINGTON - The US military, preparing for war with Iraq, says it has activated almost 16,000 more Reserve troops, swelling that total to almost 95,000, biggest number since the 1991 Gulf War.

The announcement today came a day after President George W Bush promised to deliver new intelligence on Iraq's alleged arms programmes and vowed to use the full force of the military to disarm Iraqi President Saddam Hussein if necessary.

Tens of thousands of part-time troops have been called to duty for the war on terror since the September 2001 attacks on the United States. Many are now moving to the Gulf region along with more than 100,000 US regular troops, ships and warplanes in a build-up for a possible war with Iraq.

The US Coast Guard said on Wednesday it was sending eight cutters to the Gulf. Air Force General Richard Myers, chairman of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters the ships would protect ports in the region and watch out for potential suicide attacks on ships using explosives-laden small boats.

The 15,718 Reserve and National Guard troops newly called to active duty in the past week brought the total now on active duty to 94,624.

The weekly Pentagon announcement on Reserve and National Guard troops on duty gave the following new totals: Army 64,741; Air Force 14,627; Marine Corps 8729; Navy 5476 and Coast Guard 1051.

A total of 106,000 US reservists -- troops who normally see weekend duty while living civilian lives -- served on full-time duty in the Gulf region during the 1991 Gulf War.

The Pentagon announced last week that 20,012 additional part-time troops had been activated in the previous week in a major build-up of US forces that began with a series of orders from Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in late December.

The United States recently ordered two more aircraft carriers to deploy to the Gulf, which will double to four the number of US carriers -- each with 75 warplanes -- within striking distance of Iraq.

Britain is also moving an aircraft carrier and other warships to the Gulf and has announced commitment of about 35,000 military personnel to join a possible thrust to get rid of what Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair charge are stockpiles of Iraqi chemical and biological weapons.

Iraq denies having any such arms.

The carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has been told to move to the Gulf from Australia and the USS Theodore Roosevelt will soon deploy after training exercises off Puerto Rico.

The carriers, sailing with battle groups of warships armed with cruise missiles, would join the USS Constellation, which is in the Gulf, and the USS Harry S Truman, which is in the Mediterranean Sea.

Meanwhile, a flow of regular US troops includes more than 15,000 Marines and as many as 100,000 Army soldiers along with heavy bombers, fighter jets and ground-attack warplanes.

France, Germany, Russia and China have told Washington that they would not support any attack on Iraq before giving UN weapons inspectors more time to do their work. UN diplomats say that position is shared by most of the 15 UN Security Council members.

But building his case for a possible attack on Iraq, Bush said in his State of the Union speech to Congress on Tuesday night that he had asked the Security Council to meet on Feb 5 to consider fresh evidence about Saddam's "illegal" weapons programmes.

- REUTERS

Herald feature: Iraq

January 30, 2003:
George Bush's State of the Union speech

January 28, 2003: