President George W. Bush on Friday authorized a call-up of as many as 50,000 reserves, a senior Pentagon official said.
"The president signed it out this morning," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We're authorized to call up to 50,000."
The official said logistics troops, emergency medical personnel and air support personnel would be among those mobilized.
"A lot of it will go to New York," the official said, referring to the relief and recovery efforts underway following Tuesday's suicide attacks, when hijackers commandeered US commercial jetliners and plowed into the World Trade Center's twin towers, toppling the world-famous skyscrapers.
The mobilization is one of the first public steps in US military preparations for a sustained campaign against terrorists and the states that sponsor them.
US military leaders have turned to reserves in most major recent conflicts, from the Gulf War to Kosovo, because many key combat support functions from policing to piloting military aircraft have been placed in the reserves by design.
US leaders have been preparing the public for what Bush called "the first war of the 21st century"
Bush’s call came after the US Senate, in a 98-0 vote, had unanimously approved the use of force against those responsible for the terrorist attacks on Washington, New York and western Pennsylvania.
"The president is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons," according to the text of the resolution.
Earlier, in a unanimous 96-0 vote, the upper chamber of the bicameral US Congress approved a 40 billion-dollar supplemental aid package requested by the president to tend to the crisis wrought by the terrorist attacks.
The money, split equally between the budgets for fiscal year 2001 and fiscal year 2002, which begins October 1, are to provide aid in the aftermath of the attacks as well as to fund counter-terrorism measures designed to prevent similar attacks in the future.
The US House of Representatives was expected to also approve both joint resolutions on Friday.
Authorities estimate that thousands of people were killed when hijacked commercial aircraft rammed the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center, the western end of the Pentagon outside Washington, and a field in western Pennsylvania -- WASHINGTON (compiled by Albawaba.com from AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
