Hussein Orders 106 Foreign Hostages Freed : Gulf crisis: The Pentagon has ordered more than 500 reserve combat troops to active duty.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein today ordered the release of 106 foreigners, including some who were held as “human shields” at key installations, Iraq’s official news agency said.

The report said those to be freed are 77 Japanese, 20 Italians, five Swedes, two Germans and two Portuguese.

The Iraqi News Agency said the move to free more hostages was in response to appeals made by various visiting delegations. It had already said some Japanese nationals were being freed in response to an appeal by former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone.

In Washington, meanwhile, the Pentagon said the U.S. Marine Corps has called more than 500 reserve combat troops to active duty for possible service in the Persian Gulf region.

The reserve troops are the first standby combat forces called to duty by the Defense Department in the gulf crisis.

Bush Administration officials said earlier that the Pentagon intended to call thousands of combat reserve troops to supplement a force of about 210,000 American soldiers, sailors and airmen now in the gulf.

Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams told reporters that the Marine Corps was activating 824 reservists from 14 states. The Marine Corps said about 600 of the men were from combat units.

Also today, the Red Cross announced in Washington that Iraqi officials have agreed to allow Americans held as human shields at strategic sites to send messages home to their families.

The agreement between the Red Cross and its sister organization, the Iraqi Red Crescent, eventually will permit family members to send parcels containing medicine, food, clothing and paperback books to their loved ones in Iraq.

The agreement “extends humanitarian assistance to Americans in Iraq,” said Stephen Richards, executive vice president of the American Red Cross.

Richards recently returned from Baghdad, where he helped complete the agreement. He did not see any of the American hostages held at the sites outside Baghdad.

The message exchange program is expected to get under way in about 10 days.