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Around 1,000 reserve troops will receive their call-up papers by the end of the month
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LONDON,
October 20 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Britain will begin
calling upon reservists for possible military action against Iraq
within ten days, according to a report in a British newspaper
published Sunday, October 20.
Around
1,000 reserve troops will receive their call-up papers by the end of
the month, the Sunday Telegraph said, Agence France-Presse
(AFP) reported.
“We’ve
got to move on this by the end of the month to keep to the
timetable,” the weekly broadsheet quoted a senior defense ministry
official as saying.
Civilian
employers of reservists’ need some two months notice to arrange
cover, the paper said, adding that most of the part-time soldiers were
likely to be specialist staff needed to supplement the army’s
under-strength medical service. The army is said to be particularly
short of surgeons and anesthetists.
Responding
to the report, a defense ministry spokeswoman said “no decisions”
had been taken to mobilize reservists.
British
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw made it clear Friday that Britain and the
United States were prepared to take military action against Iraq, even
without a new U.N. resolution, if Baghdad refuses to allow arms
inspections.
“We
reserve the right to act within international law in respect of the
use of force, which may or may not be covered by a new resolution,”
Straw told the BBC.
He
added: “It is entirely appropriate for America, as for us, to
reserve their position if the U.N. does not meet its
responsibilities.”
Straw
stressed that Britain was “completely committed to a United Nations
route - if that is successful.”
The
timing of the call-up indicates that Geoff Hoon, the Defense
Secretary, has promised America that Britain’s contribution will be
operational from the New Year, reported the Telegraph adding
that the numbers involved will provide other clues about the nature
and size of the British force being assembled against Saddam Hussein.
The
need for 1,000 reserves compares with an initial call-out of 1,500
part-time soldiers ahead of the Gulf war 12 years ago, said the paper.
It added that eventually, Britain committed about 45,000 troops to
Operation Granby, the U.K. contribution to Desert Storm.
According
to the Telegraph, preparations for the move were made last week
when defense ministers renewed an order allowing the compulsory
call-out of reserves to support “operations arising as part of the
campaign against international terrorism.”
The
upgrade of more than 234 Challenger 2 tanks to cope with desert
conditions has also been ordered by Hoon as the U.K. ministry of
defense’s preparations for war in Iraq begin to move into the open.
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