CNN 美国有线新闻 2014-09-23

 Welcome to the 10 minutes’ current events with no commercials. This is CNN student news. I’m Carl Azuz. Thank you for watching.

First of all, president Obama made promise yesterday to US troops. He says he won’t get them involved in another ground war in Iraq. Several hundred service men and women are in the region. Their missions include launching air strikes against the ISIS terrorist group, gathering¹ intelligence about ISIS and training and helping² Iraqi forces fight ISIS. The Obama administration says the US troops themselves will not go in the combat. But the nation’s highest-ranking military advisor³ says if he thinks US troops should get involved he’ll recommend it to the president. While some law makers⁴ have questions about the roles of US troops in Iraq. There is another issue to be considered is that the US leads the way fighting ISIS—money.

 

The bill for military operation in Iraq keeps rising. On August 29th, the Pentagon said the mission has cost 7.5 million US dollars a day- a relatively⁵ tiny sum compared to the billion spent in Iraq during our last campaign in that country. But what started as an effort to protect the American interest in Iraq from Sunni militants⁶ is now turning into something much bigger. The US has completed over a hundred and fifty air strikes that started in August. And since the Pentagon released the daily reverage spending figure, president Obama authorized⁸ additional military personnel twice. He also opened up the possibility of air strikes outside of Iraq. “we will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country wherever they are. I mean I will not hesitate to take action against ISIS in Syria as well as in Iraq”  

 

On top of that, the president is hoping the Congress will authorize⁷ 5 hundred million dollar request made in June for training and equipping the rebels in Syria to fight ISIS.

Currently the US is financing involvement in Iraq through an 85 billion dollar allocation in the Pentagons overseas contingency⁹ operation now. That money has been financing troop draw down in Afghanistan and other activities in the region. And the president says he does not need extra authorization¹⁰ from Congress.

 

To be sure, the strategy of US involvement in Iraq today is very different than during operation in Iraq for freedom from 2003 to 2011. For one, at its peak, there were more than a hundred and fifty thousand troops on the ground that needed housing, logistical support and supplies. And estimated price for that war by the congressional research service is 806 billion dollars. And that doesn’t include interest on the debt to fund the war or billions more for continuing veteran care. It’s important to remember it wasn’t expected to cost that much. In October 2003, six months after the operation began, the CBO estimated Iraq would cost 85 to 200 billion dollars through 2013. Estimates were way off.

 

With Obama’s latest announcement the US military will have approximately 1500 personnel in Iraq. Now more people means more money, so we will have to see how high the figures go from here.

1 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

4 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

6 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

7 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。

8 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。

9 contingency   

n.意外事件，可能性

参考例句：

• We should be prepared for any contingency.我们应该对任何应急情况有所准备。
• A fire in our warehouse was a contingency that we had not expected.库房的一场大火是我们始料未及的。

10 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。