CNN 2011-11-27

 The announcement of // I think it was when President Obama said the troops would be home for the holidays, was obviously a very big moment. 

 

Because it all began the firing anyway, began in 2003 that’s when the first troops went across the border. It’s nearly nine years later, these guys are finally coming home and that Iraq gets its country back. 

 

The America will hand over the keys so to speak to the Iraqis. Basically they will have a ceremony // victory the big, if you like anchor base throughout this war. December 15 is going to be the big one for the United States, it’s gonna be a ceremony at the massive U.S. embassy there. Now from December 1819 that’s when you’re gonna see the last convoy¹ when the last U.S. soldier symbolically² cross the border into QA.

 

All of this comes after a deal done by the Bush administration, and that was an agreement to have all U.S. troops out of Iraq by the end of this year. Then the // administration they negotiated for a while, they tried to get some U.S. forces, 20,000 or so was mentioned, to stay in Iraq after 2012. The hiccup³ there was they needed to have those forces immune from prosecution⁴ by Iraqi legal system, Iraqis do a great of that, and so that was the end of that, and then everybody is out.

 

There’re gonna be a lot of U.S. troops stay in QA, there’s 23,000 base there, and having been base there for years now, some U.S. forces are going to stay as trainers, that’s not gonna be a lot of people, you talking maybe a couple of hundred people, and you also must remember you got U.S. forces in other parts of the region, // // the united //, // talk the U.S. having an increasing worship presents in the region too so they wanna keep that footprint there in the middle east. 

 

Of course when the U.S. troops go, the bases become Iraqi property and there’re allies around the bases though, just dismantle⁵ them entirely⁶. You know you’re talking about a huge number of bases during this war, at the height of the war there was more than 500 U.S. bases around the country. By around towards the end of 2010, I think that number dropped to less than 100. Right now, there’s about a dozen. At the end of the day, I think it’s gonna be a lot of relief, people // both in United States and in Iraq, in all the other countries who taken in part in this war. And I think it’ll also be a lot of damage that’s gonna endure forever.

1 convoy   

vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队

参考例句：

• The convoy was snowed up on the main road.护送队被大雪困在干路上了。
• Warships will accompany the convoy across the Atlantic.战舰将护送该船队过大西洋。

2 symbolically   

ad.象征地，象征性地

参考例句：

• By wearing the ring on the third finger of the left hand, a married couple symbolically declares their eternal love for each other. 将婚戒戴在左手的第三只手指上，意味着夫妻双方象征性地宣告他们的爱情天长地久，他们定能白头偕老。
• Symbolically, he coughed to clear his throat. 周经理象征地咳一声无谓的嗽，清清嗓子。

3 hiccup   

n.打嗝

参考例句：

• When you have to hiccup,drink a glass of cold water.当你不得不打嗝时，喝一杯冷水就好了。
• How long did he hiccup?他打嗝打了多久？

4 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

5 dismantle   

vt.拆开，拆卸；废除，取消

参考例句：

• He asked for immediate help from the United States to dismantle the warheads.他请求美国立即提供援助，拆除这批弹头。
• The mower firmly refused to mow,so I decided to dismantle it.修完后割草机还是纹丝不动，于是，我决定把它拆开。

6 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。