WMR's Pentagon sources report that the Army is facing
so many absent without leave (AWOL) cases, Army Judge Advocate
General (JAG) lawyers are being forced to revise standing
regulations on dealing with AWOL personnel.

The numbers of Army personnel refusing Iraq duty are staggering
and unprecedented in modern times. Pentagon sources put the
numbers at 5000 enlisted personnel and 600 officers. The AWOL
personnel are mostly in National Guard and Army Reserve units
but also include some active Army personnel.

JAG personnel and other senior Army officials are reluctant to
discuss the AWOL numbers and fear that a raft of courts-martial
will focus the public eye on the absentee problems in the Army.
Hence, the procedures for dealing with AWOLs within the Army
are being drastically altered.

Sources in Iraq have previously informed WMR that some
U.S. military personnel in Iraq have gone AWOL by simply
leaving the country through a virtual "underground railroad"
established through countries bordering Iraq, including
Turkey, Jordan, Iran, and Syria, into Europe.