2006年VOA标准英语-White House, Senate Republicans Reach Deal on D

By Deborah Tate
Capitol Hill
21 September 2006

The Bush administration and Senate Republicans have reached a deal on legislation relating to how terrorism suspects are treated and tried by the United States. 

President Bush speaking in Florida  
  
President Bush, traveling in Florida, praised the deal - which he said would preserve the Central Intelligence Agency's program to question terror suspects and create military commissions to bring terrorists to justice.

"The agreement will do what the American people expect us to do, to capture terrorists, to detain terrorists, to question terrorists, and then to try them," said President Bush.

A week earlier, the Senate Armed Services Committee had rejected the administration's plan for handling detainees, saying it would undermine the Geneva Conventions - which ensures the humane¹ treatment of suspects, and would allow abusive interrogations and unfair trials. The panel instead approved an alternate plan offered by key Republicans - including the chairman, Senator John Warner and former prisoner of war, Senator John McCain - that would grant terror suspects greater rights.
 

Senate Armed Services Committee, from left: John Warner, Carl Levin, Robert Byrd, Jack² Reed, John McCain  
  
Concerned about the appearance of their party divided on a key issue in the war on terror just six weeks before congressional elections, the White House and those key Republicans held days of intense negotiations³, resulting in Thursday's deal.

Senator McCain expressed satisfaction with the compromise.

"The agreement that we have entered into gives the President the tools he needs to continue the fight in the war on terror, and bring these evil people to justice," said John McCain. "And there is no doubt that the integrity and the letter and spirit of the Geneva Conventions have been preserved."

National Security Adviser⁴ Stephen Hadley told reporters the deal would put some limits on suspects' access to classified information.

That has been a key issue for House Armed Services Committee chairman Duncan Hunter.

"We are concerned most strongly with the utilization⁵ of classified information, and the utilization of that information to obtain convictions in this new type of war against a new type of enemy," said Duncan Hunter.

The agreement is now being reviewed by both houses of Congress, with action expected as early as next week.

The legislation is in response to a U.S. Supreme⁶ Court ruling earlier this year striking down the military commissions set up by the administration to try terror suspects, saying they did not comply with U.S. law and were inconsistent with the Geneva Conventions.

1 humane   

adj.人道的，富有同情心的

参考例句：

• Is it humane to kill animals for food?宰杀牲畜来吃合乎人道吗？
• Their aim is for a more just and humane society.他们的目标是建立一个更加公正、博爱的社会。

2 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

3 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

4 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

5 utilization   

n.利用，效用

参考例句：

• Computer has found an increasingly wide utilization in all fields.电子计算机已越来越广泛地在各个领域得到应用。
• Modern forms of agricultural utilization,have completely refuted this assumption.现代农业利用形式，完全驳倒了这种想象。

6 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。