Reservists forced to fight in Iraq by 'back-door draft'

With bloody wars in Iraq and Afghanistan stemming the flow of volunteers the US marine corps has been forced to call up reserves for compulsory service.

The involuntary call-up, seen as a "back-door draft" by Pentagon critics, is the first since the start of the Iraq war, and will begin in a few months when an initial batch of up to 2,500 reservists is summoned back to active service for a year or more.

The army has already sent 2,200 reservists back to the front of which only about 350 went voluntarily.

The marine corps announcement is in contrast to predictions by US commanders a few months ago that the number of American troops in Iraq could be reduced from about 130,000 to 100,000 by the end of the year.

Those plans were shelved as sectarian violence worsened.

There are now 138,000 American troops in Iraq, of which 22,000 are marines.

One mobile marine brigade due to return to base in Alaska last month after a year in Iraq has had its tour extended by four months, being sent to Baghdad to help Iraqi government forces try to stem the nation's slide towards civil war.

"All that happy talk about getting down to 100,000 by the end of this year, that's not on the cards for this year," said John Pike, the director of GlobalSecurity.org, a military thinktank in Washington.

"Instead, they might bump up the numbers even further They are going to do whatever it takes to keep a lid on this damn thing in Baghdad, because if there's anywhere it's going to fly off the handle it's in Baghdad.

The marine corps will be drawing on its 59,000-strong "individual ready reserve," recent veterans who served in the corps less than four years ago.

The compulsory mobilisation of the reserve is normally ordered only in case of national emergency, but this year there were not enough reservist volunteers to fill the gaps in marine ranks.

Colonel Guy Stratton, who is in charge of the marine's mobilisation programme, said that the most urgent need was for engineers, intelligence officers, military police and communication specialists.

Gary Anderson, a retired marine colonel and now a Pentagon adviser on Iraq, said the call-up reflected the strain the Iraq war was putting on the force. "We're in Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, and we still have commitments in the Far East. I think if Iraq was the only game in town, it would be different," he said.

"Quite frankly some of these guys have gone to Iraq two or three times, and they feel they've done their bit It's going to put a strain on them. Both people and equipment are getting worn out. There's an old saying - long wars ruin armies, and I think that's an accurate statement."

Jack Reed, a Democratic senator on the armed services committee, said the marines and army were "stretched perilously thin and the equipment is seriously degraded."

Source: China Daily