HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- Monday, January 14, 2002 11:01 AM Call-up for TA to aid al-Qaida
probe
Richard
Norton-Taylor
Monday January 14, 2002 The Guardian The first compulsory call-up of
army reserves since the Suez crisis over 45 years ago is to be announced by the
government today.
In a move reflecting the government's belief that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida
followers continue to pose a serious threat to Britain, more than 100
Territorial Army military intelligence specialists are to be mobilised to seek
and analyse information about the network.
Some will work in London where they will help the defence intelligence staff,
which has been working 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week, since the September 11
attacks on the US.
Others will be deployed in Afghanistan, where MI5 and MI6 officers are
already questioning captured Taliban and al-Qaida fighters, investigating links
with Britain and any evidence of their knowledge of nuclear, biological, and
chemical warfare.
The MoD is already drawing up plans for the TA to take up responsibility for
guarding military installations and other potential terrorist targets in
Britain, including nuclear installations.
Today's call-up, to be announced in the Commons by Geoff Hoon, the defence
secretary, makes it clear the government believes there is a problem in
gathering reliable intelligence about the activities and intentions of the
al-Qaida network and what weapons they may possess.
Under the Reserve Forces Act, passed by John Major's Conservative government
in 1996, the MoD can order individual members of the TA to leave their civilian
jobs for up to a year. The ministry makes up any differences between their
salaries and their TA pay. The self-employed have special arrangements and in
extreme circumstances could be exempted from call-up.
About 500 TA volunteers are deployed in the Balkans, mainly in Kosovo.
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