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Pentagon To Call Up 10,000 New Reserves; Troop Calls on Rumsfeld to Resign

HeadlineJul 17, 2003

The Wall Street Journal reports the Pentagon is considering calling up 10,000 new U.S. military reserves to go to Iraq.

ABC News is reporting that troop morale is at a new low. The network yesterday broadcast interview with soldiers who questioned their mission and the Pentagon’s leadership.

One soldier, a specialist, said, “If Donald Rumsfeld was here, I’d ask him for his resignation.” Another private added, “I used to want to help these people, but now, I don’t really care about them anymore.”

The 10,000 reserves expected to be called up are needed in part because other countries including India have refused to offer troops. The Washington Post notes that even when some countries offer aid, it has been of little value. Hungary, for example, offered to send a truck company but the country has no trucks to offer.

One senior defense official told the Wall Street Journal that he had never seen the military stretched so thin in the last 30 years.

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