The Pentagon will call up 12,000 National Guard soldiers for service in Iraq to fill gaps in the overworked army, a news report said Thursday.The National Guard is a volunteer militia, but, said NBC News, they will receive an involuntary call-up to report for duty in Iraq.
Guard units are based in each US state. Four states will provide the troops from four brigades, the television network said, citing unnamed Defense Department sources.
The call-up follows closely President George W. Bush's controversial "surge" of 21,000 troops, meant to quell the sectarian violence among Iraqis as well as Al-Qaeda fighters determined to sow chaos.
However, US troops are being rotated in and out of Iraq, sometimes without the customary training, sometimes without the customary 12 months' rest at US bases.
