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US Confident Missile Came From Separatist Held Territory

PENTAGON —

The United States says it is confident the missile that took down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was launched from territory held by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. The task of determining exactly who pulled the trigger, however, now falls to investigators¹, who will face some challenges.

The ominous² pillar of black smoke, debris³ streaming down -- remnants of what was Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 are caught on amateur video -- and the world is demanding an explanation.

“No one can deny the truth in the awful images we all have seen," said President Barack Obama. "And the eyes of the world are on eastern Ukraine and we are going to make sure that the truth is out.”

The president said Friday the United States already has a good idea of what that truth is.

“We have confidence in saying that that shot was taken within territory that is controlled by the Russian separatists,” said Obama.

U.S. officials refuse to say definitively⁴ who pulled the trigger, but they believe the weapon system behind the tragedy is a Buk, a Russian-made mobile surface-to-air missile system.

Separatists claimed to have captured one from the Ukrainian military and Ukraine released video on Friday claiming to show one on the move near the crash site, heading toward the Russian border.  

Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said, “It strains credulity that it could be used by separatists without at least some measure of Russian support and technical assistance.”

Such help may have been easily available.  

Boris Zilberman at the Foundation for Defense⁵ of Democracies, speaking to VOA via Skype, said, “You have a lot of folks in the Donetsk irregular military that are former Russian intelligence, military intelligence, GRU or fought in Afghanistan or other Russian conflicts.”

The crash site itself could also yield more clues, according to Stratfor military analyst⁶ Sim Tack⁷, speaking via Skype.

“Different types of missiles and different generations of production of these systems will have variations in explosives in the warhead that will leave separate traces on the debris that might be distinguished,” said Tack.

There are concerns that due to the location of the crash site in separatist-held territory, though, time may be running out.

“There’s been a lot of tampering⁸ with the evidence there. We have seen video footage of rebels collecting passports and debris on the site,” said Tack.

U.S. officials caution it is still early and that more information will likely surface over the next few days and weeks.

That will be of little comfort to friends and relatives mourning loved ones they will never see again.

1 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 ominous   

adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的

参考例句：

• Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
• There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。

3 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

4 definitively   

adv.决定性地，最后地

参考例句：

• None of the three super-states could be definitively conquered even by the other two in combination. 三个超级国家中的任何一国都不可能被任何两国的联盟所绝对打败。 来自英汉文学
• Therefore, nothing can ever be definitively proved with a photograph. 因此，没有什么可以明确了一张照片。 来自互联网

5 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。

6 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

7 tack   

n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝

参考例句：

• He is hammering a tack into the wall to hang a picture.他正往墙上钉一枚平头钉用来挂画。
• We are going to tack the map on the wall.我们打算把这张地图钉在墙上。

8 tampering   

v.窜改( tamper的现在分词 )；篡改；（用不正当手段）影响；瞎摆弄

参考例句：

• Two policemen were accused of tampering with the evidence. 有两名警察被控篡改证据。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• As Harry London had forecast, Brookside's D-day caught many meter-tampering offenders. 正如哈里·伦敦预见到的那样，布鲁克赛德的D日行动抓住了不少非法改装仪表的人。 来自辞典例句