-
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
By Barry Newhouse
Irbil, Iraq
24 February 2007
Iraqi police say a truck bomb killed 37 people and wounded more than 60 outside a Sunni mosque1 Satuday in restive2 Anbar province. Three bomb blasts in Baghdad killed at least five people and wounded 20 others. Eight Iraqi policemen were killed when insurgents4 stormed their checkpoint near Baghdad airport. The attacks came as Iraqi officials reported progress in the new effort to reassert control over the capital city. VOA's Barry Newhouse reports from northern Iraq, thousands of Shi'ites turned out in several cities to denounce U.S. forces, after a Shi'ite politician's son was briefly5 detained near the Iranian border.
Iraqi policemen prepare to tow away a car destroyed in a car bomb attack in Baghdad, 24 Feb 2007
The Baghdad security operation, called "Fardh al-Qanoon," or "Imposing6 Order," continues to expand, as troops take up positions in new areas of the capital, and search homes and vehicles for weapons and explosives.
Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad Bulani said the operation is allowing Iraqi and U.S. forces to more closely track insurgents. Bulani says U.S. and Iraqi forces have been observing insurgent3 strategies, and are learning how to more quickly target them. He says Iraq forces are learning to adapt and solve problems, and, in the last few days, they have succeeded in stopping some terrorist plots.
But there is skepticism among many Iraqis and Americans that the deployment7 of thousands more troops in the capital will, on its own, be enough to uproot8 Iraq's deeply entrenched9 sectarian militias10.
In the Democratic Party's weekly radio address Saturday, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Richard Holbrooke urged the U.S. government to reach out to Iraq's neighbors for help. "Engaging in a broad-based diplomatic offensive, and beginning a redeployment of U.S. forces in Iraq, represents the best way to secure America's interests in the region, and combat the serious threat of terrorist networks," he said.
President Bush opposes talks with Iran and Syria, which he accuses of not doing enough to stop Iraq's insurgency11. The president also has alleged12 that Iran's military supplies Iraqi insurgents with sophisticated explosives, and part of the new security operation includes tightening13 Iranian border checkpoints to intercept14 weapons shipments.
At one of those checkpoints on Friday, U.S. forces detained the oldest son of powerful Shi'ite politician Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, as he was driving from Iran into Iraq.
Iraqi Shiite women take part in a demonstration15, in the holy city of Karbala, central Iraq, to protest against the arrest of Ammar al-Hakim - AFP
The U.S. military said Amar Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, whose father leads the Shi'ite party called the Supreme16 Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, was riding in a convoy17 that displayed suspicious activities. He was released after several hours, without charge, and the military said he was treated with respect. But people traveling with Mr. Hakim said the group had been treated roughly by American soldiers.
U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad apologized for the incident, but the detention18 sparked anger among thousands of Shi'ites, who demonstrated in Baghdad, Basra, Kut and Najaf.
Iraqi television broadcast images of hundreds of people rallying in the city Kut, where al-Hakim was held.
One man said, "if you look at these people and read the banners they are holding, they are very angry about what the Americans did to al Hakim."
In Basra, the Shi'ite majority city in southern Iraq, one protester said the detention of such an important person went too far. A man said, "This was a very bad attack by occupation forces against al Hakim - it crossed a red line. This attack is against all Islamic leaders."
Hakim is a highly influential19 figure in Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's government, and he met with President Bush in December. He has not publicly commented on his son's detention.
1 mosque | |
n.清真寺 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 restive | |
adj.不安宁的,不安静的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 insurgent | |
adj.叛乱的,起事的;n.叛乱分子 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 insurgents | |
n.起义,暴动,造反( insurgent的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 briefly | |
adv.简单地,简短地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 imposing | |
adj.使人难忘的,壮丽的,堂皇的,雄伟的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 deployment | |
n. 部署,展开 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 uproot | |
v.连根拔起,拔除;根除,灭绝;赶出家园,被迫移开 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 entrenched | |
adj.确立的,不容易改的(风俗习惯) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 militias | |
n.民兵组织,民兵( militia的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 insurgency | |
n.起义;暴动;叛变 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 alleged | |
a.被指控的,嫌疑的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 tightening | |
上紧,固定,紧密 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 intercept | |
vt.拦截,截住,截击 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 demonstration | |
n.表明,示范,论证,示威 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 convoy | |
vt.护送,护卫,护航;n.护送;护送队 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 detention | |
n.滞留,停留;拘留,扣留;(教育)留下 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19 influential | |
adj.有影响的,有权势的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|