US set to call up reserve troops

The Pentagon is poised to call up 10,000 reserve troops ready for war against Iraq, military officials said today.

The US Defence Department is expected to activate the first wave of National Guard soldiers in the next few days to fill military jobs that would be critical if America attacks Saddam Hussein.

The troops will join nearly 51,000 reservists already mobilised to defend the US after September 11 and for the war in Afghanistan.

A senior military official told the New York Times: “Activating reserves is significant because it will affect every community in America, and it sends a signal that the president is serious.”

If George Bush orders a strike against Iraq, the Pentagon plans to call about 260,000 reservists to active duty, roughly as many as it did during the 1991 Gulf war.

News of the war preparations comes as the White House said it had “solid” evidence that Saddam has weapons of mass destruction.

Bush administration officials rejected Baghdad’s denials that it had chemical, biological and nuclear arms.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said: “The president of the United States and the secretary of defence would not assert as plainly and bluntly as they have that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction if it was not true, and if they did not have a solid basis for saying it.

“The Iraqi government has proved time and time again to deceive, to mislead and to lie.”

He would not say what the evidence was, but said the US would provide intelligence to weapons inspectors.

Meanwhile, Saddam today urged the Iraqi people to support the new inspections as a chance to disprove US claims that his government still has weapons of mass destruction.

The Iraqi leader said he agreed to the inspections “to keep our people out of harm’s way” in the face of US threats.

“Some might claim that we didn’t give them a proper chance to resist, with tangible evidence, the American allegations,” he said at a gathering of the Iraqi military.

“We shall provide them with such a chance.”

But the Washington Times reported that the Bush Administration is set to declare Iraq in violation of the UN resolution requiring Baghdad to give up weapons of mass destruction.

White House officials told the paper a material breach declaration will depend on whether Iraq fails to mention in its UN report some banned weapons programmes identified in US intelligence reports.

The report, listing any hidden weapons and long-range missile programmes, is due by Sunday under a UN Security Council resolution passed last month.

The Bush Administration has indicated that if the declaration is clearly false it will try to rally a consensus on the council to approve using force against Iraq