VOA常速英语2007-Pentagon Working to Get Turkey 'Actionable Intel

By Al Pessin
Pentagon
31 October 2007

The Pentagon says it is trying to provide Turkey with the kind of intelligence about insurgents¹ of the Kurdistan Workers Party that would enable the Turkish military to take action against them. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.

Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell says the United States has provided "lots of intelligence" to help Turkey fight Kurdish rebels of the PKK, and has been supplying "more and more" information as a result of recent developments. But he said the U.S. preference is for Turkey to deal with PKK elements in its territory and for the Iraqi military to deal with elements in its territory.

Turkey threatened to invade northern Iraq, where the PKK has bases, after a particularly deadly attack on its troops earlier this month.

There was also an attack last week that killed 12 Turkish troops, on the same day U.S. Defense² Secretary Robert Gates met with his Turkish counterpart Vecdi Gonul.

After that meeting, Defense Minister Gonul called for the United States to take "tangible³ action" against the guerrillas. But Secretary Gates said military action does not make sense without 'actionable intelligence,' a term that refers to information specific and timely enough for military units to act on it.

At a briefing not available for broadcast Wednesday, Morrell called that "a pretty high standard," and said the United States is "making efforts to help" Turkey "get actionable intelligence." He described the effort as part of a "longstanding working relationship" with Turkey on the Kurdish guerrilla issue.

He said part of that involves an order to U.S. troops in Iraq, authorizing⁴ them to detain anyone on a list of the 10 most wanted PKK members. He said the list is in the Iraq coalition's computer system.

Secretary Gates has said U.S. and Iraqi forces would "do the appropriate thing" if they had specific information on PKK forces in Iraq, and would provide such information to Turkey if the guerrillas were on the Turkish side of the border.

Pentagon spokesman, Bryan Whitman, said Wednesday the United States wants to see a long term solution to the Kurdish guerrilla problem, which he said should be developed by the Iraqi and Turkish governments. He said recent Iraq-Turkey talks have resulted in some "encouraging signs in that regard."

1 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

2 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。

3 tangible   

adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的

参考例句：

• The policy has not yet brought any tangible benefits.这项政策还没有带来任何实质性的好处。
• There is no tangible proof.没有确凿的证据。

4 authorizing   

授权，批准，委托( authorize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Letters of Marque: Take letters from a warning friendly power authorizing privateering. 私掠许可证：从某一个国家获得合法抢劫的证书。
• Formal phavee completion does not include authorizing the subsequent phavee. 阶段的正式完成不包括核准随后的阶段。