WASHINGTON, Dec 14: In a fresh sign of preparation for possible war with Iraq, the United States has ordered another 27,000 Reserve and National Guard troops to prepare for active duty, defense officials said on Saturday.

They said the alert was issued by the Pentagon on Friday night and that the services were identifying units ranging from Navy port workers to Army engineers to be prepared for a likely call to active duty early in the new year.

“Defense Secretary (Donald) Rumsfeld has not given a final call-up order, but the troops are being alerted to get ready,” one of the officials, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters. They said the new call-up could go as high as 30,000 troops.

The New York Times reported on Saturday that Army units would include military police, engineers and supply specialists and that the Navy was planning to notify at least 1,000 ship cargo specialists and other port workers.

There are already more than 50,000 part-time US reservists on active duty in the US from all services, part of a call-up sparked by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

The defense officials spoke after the military on Friday began giving mandatory smallpox vaccinations to the first of 500,000 US troops, including medical response teams and key units that might go to war or support combat against Baghdad over weapons of mass destruction. That inoculation effort was ordered by President George W. Bush.

If Bush orders an attack against Iraq, the Pentagon is expected to activate up to 200,000 reservists to fill key posts in the military from piloting warplanes to shipping arms. Many of them would also guard bases and key civilian facilities at home and replace regular Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force troops sent off to battle.

A total of 265,000 National Guard and Reserve members were called to duty during the 1991 Gulf War.—Reuters