Congresswoman Wants Probe Of Re-Enlistment Tactics

WASHINGTON (AP) A Colorado congresswoman is seeking a congressional investigation into allegations that Iraqi war veterans near the end of their enlistments were given a choice between re-enlisting or being sent back to Iraq.

Democratic Rep. Diana Degette, in a letter to House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., asked him Monday to look into whether the ''White House or civilian Pentagon officials are pressuring the military to use coercive tactics to get soldier to re-enlist in order to maintain the force levels necessary to fight the war in Iraq and war on terror.''

Degette, at a news conference in Denver earlier Monday, cited reports in two Denver newspapers and calls she has received from several soldiers at Fort Carson, near Colorado Springs.

According to reports in the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post, soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team were told they faced reassignment to units expected to be deployed to Iraq or Korea if they did not either re-enlist by the end of the month or extend their duty until the end of 2007. Those who re-enlisted or extended would stay with the 3rd Brigade, which already was deployed a year in Iraq.

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