2007年VOA标准英语-US Defense Secretary: Iraq Must Send More Troop

By Al Pessin
Pentagon
02 February 2007

U.S. Defense¹ Secretary Robert Gates says the Iraqi military must do better at meeting its commitment to send more forces to Baghdad, as part of the new security plan.  VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.

Joint2 Chiefs Chairman General Peter Pace, gestures during a news conference at the Pentagon" hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070519/0913140.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, left, accompanied by Joint Chiefs Chairman General Peter Pace, gestures during a news conference at the Pentagon

At a news conference, Secretary Gates was asked about a comment his Iraq commander, General George Casey, made on Thursday, when he said Iraqi units arriving in Baghdad are only at between 55 and 65 percent of their promised strength.

"Fifty-five percent probably isn't good enough," he said.  "But I'm not sure that that's what the end strength of that unit is going to be when the time comes for it to go into combat."

At the same news conference, the top U.S. military officer, General Peter Pace, described the Iraqi troop movements as "good news and bad news."

"They're not at the level we would like them to be, total strength-wise, but they are showing up on the timeline they said they would," he noted³.

General Pace said the current situation is better than in the past, when some promised Iraqi units did not deploy⁴ to Baghdad at all.  Still, he said, the Iraqi military will have to increase the strength of the units in Baghdad in order to fulfill⁵ its commitments under the new security plan.

President Bush announced the plan last month, after consulting with the Iraqi government and U.S. civilian⁶ and military leaders.  It is meant to bring security to the Iraqi capital to enable the government to move forward on political reconciliation⁷.  The plan involves sending 21,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq to work with Iraqi forces, and there is considerable opposition⁸ to the plan among members of Congress and the American people.

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Carl Levin, is trying to get the administration to make public a series of benchmarks that are to be used to measure whether Iraq is fulfilling its commitments under the plan.  Secretary Gates says he has no objection to making the benchmarks public, and he listed some of them.

"The benchmarks that we will see earliest on performance are:  Are the brigades showing up?  Are they showing up reasonably on time?  Are they showing up in the numbers that they need to be showing up?  Are the politicians staying out of decisions on which neighborhoods to go into?  Are the security forces allowed to go into all neighborhoods where there are lawbreakers?  There are several of these that are pretty straightforward⁹ benchmarks, it seems to me," he added.

Secretary Gates and General Pace also said there is growing evidence of Iranian involvement in attacks in Iraq, particularly in providing technology and material to make more powerful and deadly bombs.  But the secretary said the United States has no plan for war with Iran. 

General Pace said two raids on bombing networks in Iraq in the last month have resulted in the arrest of Iranians, but Secretary Gates said he does not know whether the Iranian government is involved.  Gates said plans for a briefing in Baghdad to detail Iranian involvement have been postponed¹⁰ because he and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice want officials to be absolutely sure their information is accurate and detailed¹¹.

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

3 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

4 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

5 fulfill   

vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意

参考例句：

• If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
• This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。

6 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

7 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

8 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

9 straightforward   

adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的

参考例句：

• A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
• I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。

10 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

11 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。