So you believed we were getting ready to pull out of Iraq? They fooled you.

While the Pentagon says it plans to scale back the U.S. occupation in Iraq, it's quietly doing just the opposite, high-level internal e-mails reveal. It has launched a massive nationwide call-up of former service members across the country who have not fully completed their eight-year contractual obligation to the US Army. They are known collectively as the Individual Ready Reserves, or IRR, and they number more than 118,000.

Even the IRS is being enlisted to help:

The Defense Department, strapped for troops for missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, has proposed to Congress that it tap the Internal Revenue Service to locate out-of-touch reservists. It's one of the last options the military has before drafting civilians. And the move comes on top of rumors the Pentagon plans to redeploy to Iraq some 4,000 US troops stationed in South Korea. Call-ups for IRR members begin today, according to high-level Army e-mails I've obtained. Those who don't report could face AWOL or desertion charges.

Link via Unfair Witness. Also discussing this development is Daily Kos, Political Animal and Atrios .

Could it get any more obvious Bush is planning a draft next?