US: In a sign of the severe strain placed on the US armed forces by Afghanistan and Iraq, the US Defence Department has ordered thousands of former soldiers back into uniform, a measure last used in the 1991 Gulf War writes Conor O'Clery in New York
The Pentagon announced that 5,674 former enlisted personnel, with skills in policing, engineering, logistics, medicine or transportation, would be assigned to National Guard and Reserve units due to travel to Iraq in the near future.
The call-up, which will force ex-soldiers back into service for a year to 18 months, and could be extended to a total of 25,000 men and women who have started civilian careers, has been criticised by Democrats as a form of conscription.
The mobilisation affects non-active and unpaid reservists of the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), a supplemental pool rarely called to duty and last used in 1991, when 20,000 troops were called up for Operation Desert Storm.
The IRR consists of about 118,000 soldiers who have completed active duty and who, upon discharge, typically go into the reserve force for two or more years.
Pentagon official Robert Smiley told a news conference that more former soldiers were likely to get called up next year.
Colonel Debra Cook, commander of the US Army Human Resources Command, acknowledged that many soldiers would be "shocked" to get called up.
The latest measure by the Pentagon means that the Defence department has exhausted the ability of the National Guard and Army Reserve to fill specialized roles such as military police and construction experts.
The Pentagon has already issued "stop-loss" orders to prevent soldiers assigned to Iraq or Afghanistan from leaving the armed services, even if the period they signed on for has expired.
Democratic challenger John Kerry recently called the stop-loss policy a "backdoor draft". This move has proved unpopular with service families, as has the extension of tours in Iraq for about 20,000 troops who were due to rotate home. The Pentagon's measures also underline the strategic limits of the Bush doctrine of unilateral military action where America's interests are threatened.
Democratic Congressman Rick Larsen, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said that the latest call-up amounted to conscription.
Hillary in Frame
With only four weeks to go before the Democratic Party Convention, the party's candidate John Kerry has taken a two-day break from the campaign, apparently to make up his mind who will be his running mate and to start drafting his acceptance speech.
Senator John Edwards is favourite to join his ticket with 72 per cent approval in a Gallup poll, with Congressman Dick Gephardt at 64 per cent a solid second.
In the fever of speculation the name of New York Senator Hillary Clinton has resurfaced as a potential running mate on the Internet Drudge Report.
However, the former First Lady said on Tuesday, "I have no interest in being considered" for the nomination.
Mr Kerry is spending the two days at his wife's estate in the Pittsburgh area and plans to embark on a bus trip through the Midwest tomorrow.
He will spend the Fourth of July weekend in Iowa, where Governor Tom Vilsack is another possible running mate with 54 per cent support among voters.
The four-day Democratic National Convention, at which Kerry is due to accept his party's presidential nomination, begins on July 26th in Boston, Massachusetts.