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A file photo of US soldiers carrying a wounded colleague.
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WASHINGTON,
December 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Hundreds of US
Marine reservists, who have been summoned to boost troops in Iraq, and
Afghanistan, have demanded to be exempted from duty or even defied
call-ups.
Meanwhile,
eight US
soldiers have begun legal action in an
effort to stop the US army extending their tours of duty in
Iraq, the BBC News Online reported Tuesday,
December 7.
Lieutenant
Colonel Pamela Hart
told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the 1,855 reservists -- out of a
total of 4,024 who have been summoned by the military – have
demanded to be excused or to suspend their military service for the
time being.
The
military has so far accepted 1,044 requests and still considers the
rest, she added.
Hart
said some of the excuses include health problem, family disputes and
high-school courses.
The
Pentagon announced last week that it would boost its troops in
Iraq to 150,000
this month, the highest level since the Iraq
war began in
March 2003, to improve security for elections scheduled for January
30.
Since
the start of the US occupation of
Iraq April 9, 2003, hundreds of US marines have
reportedly deserted army units and fled
the country through Kuwait
or Turkey
under disguise, escaping
unabated resistance operations.
Legal
Action
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“I served five months past my one-year obligation and I feel that it's time to let me go back to my wife,” said Qualls. (AFP)
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Within
the same context, eight US
soldiers have begun legal
action in an effort to stop the US army extending their tours of
duty in Iraq.
Soldiers
have been kept abroad even if the date they were due to leave the army
has passed, the BBC News Online said.
The
soldiers, seven of whom have stayed anonymous, are believed to be the
first active-duty personnel to sue the army.
Lawyers
for the men have teamed up with the Center for Constitutional Rights,
a liberal public interest group, to launch a class action lawsuit
calling for an end to the practice known as “stop loss”.
“I
served five months past my one-year obligation and I feel that it's
time to let me go back to my wife,” Arkansas National Guardsman
David Qualls, the only one of the group to reveal his identity, told a
press conference.
He
said he has been told that his one-year tour of duty, begun in July
2003, will not end until next year.
The
army confirmed that about 7,000 soldiers at any one time are affected
by the stop-loss policy, which can keep troops committed to their
units for 18 months beyond their discharge date.
“What
this boils down to in my opinion is a question of fairness,” said
Qualls.
Almost
1,000 US military personnel have
been killed in resistance operations in Iraq since the US-led invasion
of the country in March 2003, according to Pentagon statistics.
With
the death on Sunday, December 5, of three marines in Iraq's western
Al-Anbar province, the number of US military personnel killed in
action reached 998, of which 889 were killed since US President George
W. Bush announced the end of the US-led war to occupy the oil-rich
country in May last year.
