2006年VOA标准英语-Court Filing Reignites Debate Over Iraq In

By Gary Thomas
Washington
09 April 2006

Court papers filed in Washington allege¹ that President Bush authorized³ the disclosure of sensitive information about Iraq to a reporter. What is to be secret, or not secret, is ultimately a presidential decision.

-----------------------------------------------------

 

  
  

Classifying a document in the U.S. government is easy. There are probably thousands of rubber stamps marked "secret" or "top secret" scattered⁴ in the offices of U.S. government agencies. But declassifying⁶ a document is hard - unless you are the president.

According to a filing in a U.S. federal court, Lewis Libby, Vice⁷ President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, says he leaked key parts of a classified National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq to a reporter on the vice president's authorization⁸ and with President Bush's approval.

White House officials will not comment directly on the matter. However, spokesman Scott McClellan said the president can declassify⁵ anything he sees fit.

"The president of the United States has the authority to declassify information. I also indicated to some reporters earlier today that the president would never authorize² the disclosure that he felt could compromise our nation's security," he said.

Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy⁹ at the Federation¹⁰ of American Scientists says that it is correct that the president has that authority. But, he adds, presidents have been known to leak information for political purposes.

"It happens with some frequency, I would say. And, obviously, it's a temptation for any president to take advantage of the information at his disposal to advance his agenda. Nevertheless, it's not what the classification system is for. Classification is to protect the national security, not to provide political advantage," he said.

Ten days after Libby is reported to have disclosed the information to then-New York Times reporter Judith Miller¹¹, portions of the October 2002 intelligence estimate on Iraq were formally released to the media on July 18, 2003. The information concerned Iraq's alleged¹² bid to obtain uranium from Africa for nuclear weapons. Saddam Hussein's supposed acquisition of weapons of mass destruction was a key rationale for the U.S. attack on Iraq, but the weapons turned out to be nonexistent. Officials now admit the intelligence on Iraq was flawed.

The court papers filed by Special Prosecutor¹³ Patrick Fitzgerald say the information was leaked to rebut¹⁴ claims by critics that the intelligence on Iraq's nuclear ambitions had been exaggerated by the administration.

Spokesman McClellan said declassifying portions of the intelligence estimate was, as he put it, "in the public interest" to rebut allegations that the administration manipulated prewar intelligence.

"There were irresponsible and unfounded accusations¹⁵ being made against the administration suggesting that we had manipulated or missed that intelligence. That was flat-out false," he said.

But Larry Wilkerson, who was chief of staff to then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, tells VOA that the information in the 2002 estimate about Iraq trying to procure¹⁶ uranium from Africa had already been discredited¹⁷ by the time it was leaked in July of 2003.

"All that business about Africa, period, yellowcake from Africa, period, was thoroughly¹⁸ discredited, regardless of the source. At least in our eyes it was, and certainly in the secretary of state's eyes it was," he says.

The State Department's Intelligence and Research Branch had in fact filed a dissenting¹⁹ view in the 2002 estimate, included in the declassified²⁰ excerpts²¹, saying there was no compelling evidence that Iraq was engaged in a concerted effort to acquire nuclear weapons.

1 allege   

vt.宣称，申述，主张，断言

参考例句：

• The newspaper reporters allege that the man was murdered but they have given no proof.新闻记者们宣称这个男人是被谋杀的，但他们没提出证据。
• Students occasionally allege illness as the reason for absence.学生时不时会称病缺课。

2 authorize   

v.授权，委任；批准，认可

参考例句：

• He said that he needed to get his supervisor to authorize my refund.他说必须让主管人员批准我的退款。
• Only the President could authorize the use of the atomic bomb.只有总统才能授权使用原子弹。

3 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

4 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

5 declassify   

v.撤销保密

参考例句：

• These reports were only declassified last year.这些报告去年才被撤销了密级。
• Does the president have the power to declassify information?总统有权利解密相关信息吗？

6 declassifying   

v.对（机密文件等）销密( declassify的现在分词 )

参考例句：

7 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

8 authorization   

n.授权，委任状

参考例句：

• Anglers are required to obtain prior authorization from the park keeper.垂钓者必须事先得到公园管理者的许可。
• You cannot take a day off without authorization.未经批准你不得休假。

9 secrecy   

n.秘密，保密，隐蔽

参考例句：

• All the researchers on the project are sworn to secrecy.该项目的所有研究人员都按要求起誓保守秘密。
• Complete secrecy surrounded the meeting.会议在绝对机密的环境中进行。

10 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

11 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

12 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

13 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

14 rebut   

v.辩驳，驳回

参考例句：

• He attempted to rebut the assertions made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳控方证人所作的断言。
• This open letter is to rebut the argument of abstractionism.这封公开信是反驳抽象派论点的。

15 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

16 procure   

vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条

参考例句：

• Can you procure some specimens for me?你能替我弄到一些标本吗？
• I'll try my best to procure you that original French novel.我将尽全力给你搞到那本原版法国小说。

17 discredited   

不足信的，不名誉的

参考例句：

• The reactionary authorities are between two fires and have been discredited. 反动当局弄得进退维谷，不得人心。
• Her honour was discredited in the newspapers. 她的名声被报纸败坏了。

18 thoroughly   

adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地

参考例句：

• The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
• The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。

19 dissenting   

adj.不同意的

参考例句：

• He can't tolerate dissenting views. 他不能容纳不同意见。
• A dissenting opinion came from the aunt . 姑妈却提出不赞同的意见。

20 declassified   

adj.解密的v.对（机密文件等）销密( declassify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Thousands of classified documents have now been declassified. 数以千计的保密文件现在被解密了。
• The software used for Siemens S7-300 encryption logic block declassified. 此软件用于对西门子S7-300加密逻辑块解密。

21 excerpts   

n.摘录，摘要( excerpt的名词复数 )；节选（音乐，电影）片段

参考例句：

• Some excerpts from a Renaissance mass are spatchcocked into Gluck's pallid Don Juan music. 一些文艺复光时期的弥撒的选节被不适当地加入到了格鲁克平淡无味的唐璜音乐中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is editing together excerpts of some of his films. 他正在将自己制作的一些电影的片断进行剪辑合成。 来自辞典例句