Powell Defends US Stance on Iraq's WMD

Powell Defends US Stance on Iraq's WMD

 

Nick Simeone

The Bush administration is coming under renewed attack over whether its claim that Iraq possessed¹ weapons of mass destruction was backed up by solid evidence. A group of private American weapons experts is now calling for an independent commission to look into the matter. The Bush administration continues to defend its pre-war claims, which were the basis for military action against Iraq.

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is charging that in the days before the war, the Bush administration misrepresented the threat from Iraq by saying it possessed weapons of mass destruction and was ready to use them.

Jessica Mathews, president of the Washington-based research group, points to a speech last February that Secretary of State Colin Powell made to the U.N. Security Council when that was televised around the world.

"He went out of his way to emphasize our certainty, saying, 'every statement I make today is backed up by solid sources. These are not assertions. We are giving you facts and conclusions based on solid evidence. This is evidence not conjecture², this is true.' And yet we know that a great many of the major assertions made in that speech turned out not to be true."

During a news conference Thursday, the secretary of state stood by the evidence, "I knew exactly the circumstances under which I was presenting that speech to the U.N. on the 5th of February. Anything that we did not feel was solid and multi-sourced, we did not use in that speech."

And he has not changed his view that Iraq - which had used banned weapons on its own people, as well as during the country's war with Iran during the 1980s - intended to use them again if the allies had not acted.

"Where the debate is, is why haven't we found huge stockpiles and why haven't we found large caches of these weapons. Let's let the Iraqi survey group complete its work. There has been the movement out of some of the individuals from the group. I presume that their particular job is finished. But I am confident of what I presented last year."

But he is less certain than others in the Bush administration that Saddam Hussein had ties to terrorist groups like al-Qaida. "I have not seen 'smoking gun'-concrete evidence about the connection. But I think the possibility of such connections did exist and it was prudent³ to consider them."

Before the war, some in the Bush administration including Defense⁴ Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had cited what they called 'bulletproof' evidence of Iraqi ties to a group linked to Osama bin⁵ Laden⁶'s al-Qaida terrorist network.

 

注释：

renew [ri5nju:] vt. 重新开始

weapons of mass destruction  大规模杀伤性武器

back up  支持

solid [5sClid] adj. 可靠的

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace  卡耐基国际和平基金会

misrepresent [mIsreprI5zent] vt. 误传，虚报

assertion [E5sE:FEn] n. 断言

conjecture [kEn5dVektFE] n. 猜想

ally [E5lai] n. 支持者，同盟

stockpile [5stCkpail] n. 贮存，积累

cache [kAF] n. 隐藏处所

presume [pri5zju:m] vt. 假定，认为

Saddam Hussein  萨达姆·侯赛因，伊拉克前总统。

prudent [5pru:dEnt] adj. 谨慎的

Defense Secretary   国防部长

bulletproof [5bJlItpru:f] adj. 防弹的

tie to  信赖，依靠

Osama bin Laden 奥萨马·本·拉登，是世界性恐怖组织基地组织的首领。

al-Qaida terrorist network  基地恐怖组织

1 possessed   

adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的

参考例句：

• He flew out of the room like a man possessed.他像着了魔似地猛然冲出房门。
• He behaved like someone possessed.他行为举止像是魔怔了。

2 conjecture   

n./v.推测，猜测

参考例句：

• She felt it no use to conjecture his motives.她觉得猜想他的动机是没有用的。
• This conjecture is not supported by any real evidence.这种推测未被任何确切的证据所证实。

3 prudent   

adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的

参考例句：

• A prudent traveller never disparages his own country.聪明的旅行者从不贬低自己的国家。
• You must school yourself to be modest and prudent.你要学会谦虚谨慎。

4 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。

5 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

6 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。