Economía y Politica Internacionales

El Pentágono dice que llamará a las reservas

Autor: Thom Shanker

Fecha: 23/10/2003

Traductor: Celeste Murillo, especial para P.I.

Fuente: New York Times

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 — Senior Pentagon officials said Tuesday that more National Guard and Reserve forces would be notified in coming weeks that they might have to serve in Iraq next year. The announcement was made amid complaints from Congress and the families of part-time troops about the stress of lengthy deployments.
Gen. Peter Pace of the Marines, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the current thinking was that no additional reservist combat brigades, each numbering 5,000 troops, would be alerted beyond those already told they will serve.
"I am sure that we are not looking at any more combat units from the Guard or Reserve other than those already notified," General Pace said at a news briefing. "That does not mean that there is not going to be more Reserves and Guard. There will be units that do logistics and the like that need to be notified."
That work, called combat support and combat service support, is critical to operations. Such duty in Iraq often subjects troops to front-line fire.
General Pace said that recommendations would go to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in two to three weeks and that no final determination had been made on numbers of reservists or on overall required forces for Iraq next year.
Pentagon officials said that Mr. Rumsfeld was briefed on the troop rotation plans as recently as Saturday and that the call-ups of support troops from the Guard and Reserves could affect dozens of units with hundreds of members in each.
Those officials emphasized that the anticipated call-up would be smaller than it would be if additional full combat brigades had to be mobilized. Large-scale alerts and mobilizations risk further protests from Capitol Hill and from families of those part-time soldiers whose lives are interrupted by a return to military service for 12-month tours on the ground in Iraq.
Some Pentagon planners said they had considered ways to avoid any additional call-up of National Guard and Reserve forces but realized that, at a minimum, logistics units would be required in the next rotation of forces for Iraq.
For rotation next year, the Pentagon has activated 10,000 troops from the Arkansas and North Carolina Guards and notified 5,000 from Washington that they may be needed.
The final decision on how many troops go to Iraq will depend on the number of other foreign troops available next spring, on the size and effectiveness of Iraq's new military forces and on the violence on the ground, Pentagon officials have said.
If American combat troops are needed to replace American forces due to come home in the spring, current plans call for a mix of fresh Army and Marine active duty forces, Pentagon officials said.