美国国家公共电台 NPR Senate Votes To End U.S. Support For War In Yemen, Rebuking Trump And Saudi Arabia

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

The Senate is expected today to pass a resolution demanding the U.S. end its support for Saudi Arabia's ongoing¹ war in Yemen. The bipartisan effort is being viewed as a rebuke² to Saudi Arabia and the Trump³ administration even though the Republican-led House is not expected to follow suit. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said about the Senate debate that he spent years defending the Saudi regime, but now...

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LINDSEY GRAHAM: Enough is enough. So to our friends in Saudi Arabia, you're never going to have a relationship with the United States Senate unless things change. And it's up to you to figure out what that change should be.

CORNISH: NPR's Scott Detrow joins us now from the Capitol. And Scott, first of all just remind us about U.S. activities in Yemen. What's been going on?

SCOTT DETROW, BYLINE⁴: Yeah, this started under the Obama administration. Both Saudi Arabia and Iran had gotten involved in an ongoing civil war in Yemen, and it's become a proxy⁵ war of sorts. So for several years, the United States has supported Saudi efforts - refueling planes during airstrikes and providing intelligence and strategic support. And this has become a real humanitarian⁶ crisis.

So for more than a year, a handful of senators from both parties have pushed to use this congressional power to force the U.S. to end its support. This has been led by Republican Mike Lee of Utah, Democrat⁷ Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Vermont independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who I spoke⁸ to earlier today.

BERNIE SANDERS: What we're talking about is in the last three years alone as a result of the Saudi-led intervention⁹ in the Yemen civil war, 85,000 children have already starved to death. Millions more face starvation.

DETROW: So they've been trying to get this vote for a while, but they've had a hard time getting there. And in fact, it came up for a vote earlier in the year in March, and it failed. Only 44 senators supported it.

CORNISH: What was the turning point then for senators who didn't support it then but do now?

DETROW: A couple of things happened. First of all, the war just got more brutal¹⁰. The humanitarian crisis surrounding it deepened. And Chris Murphy says one big turning point was the Saudi bombing of a school bus of children this summer. But the biggest change was the killing¹¹ of Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi. The CIA believes this was done at the order of Saudi Arabia's crown prince. Sanders says that is what made the difference.

SANDERS: And I think that exposed to the world what this regime is about. And then people began to ask, why we are allied¹² with a Saudi-led war in Yemen which is killing children? Maybe it's time to rethink that.

DETROW: So there was a real bipartisan anger in the Senate at not only that killing but at the Trump administration's slow response, the president's dismissal that Saudi Arabia played a role in it. And this really came to a head when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stonewalled the Senate in a bipartisan briefing that came just a few hours before a preliminary vote on this measure, which ended up passing by a wide margin¹³.

CORNISH: So what happens next, especially if, as we mentioned, the House is not likely to take it up?

DETROW: So this is probably it for now. This session of Congress ends in just a couple of weeks, and the Republican leaders in the House have made it clear they're not going to bring this up for a vote. But Sanders and Murphy say they will push again next year when Democrats¹⁴ control the House of Representatives.

And this is being seen as a key turning point for the U.S.-Saudi Arabia relationship. The Trump administration has already said it's going to end those refueling missions, and this is going to be followed by a broader Senate resolution condemning¹⁵ Saudi Arabia. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is going to support that even though he's opposing today's resolution.

And there could also be a broad sanctions bill coming up either at the end of this month or early next year in the new Congress. Bob Corker is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and he says the United States-Saudi Arabia relationship has likely been damaged for years to come because of all of this.

CORNISH: That's NPR congressional correspondent Scott Detrow. Scott, thank you.

DETROW: Thank you.

1 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

2 rebuke   

v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise

参考例句：

• He had to put up with a smart rebuke from the teacher.他不得不忍受老师的严厉指责。
• Even one minute's lateness would earn a stern rebuke.哪怕迟到一分钟也将受到严厉的斥责。

3 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 proxy   

n.代理权，代表权；（对代理人的）委托书；代理人

参考例句：

• You may appoint a proxy to vote for you.你可以委托他人代你投票。
• We enclose a form of proxy for use at the Annual General Meeting.我们附上委任年度大会代表的表格。

6 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

7 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

10 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

11 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

12 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

13 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

14 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 condemning   

v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地

参考例句：

• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
• I concur with the speaker in condemning what has been done. 我同意发言者对所做的事加以谴责。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》