U.S. and Iraqi officials inaugurated a portion of the country's new border security fence along the Iraqi-Syrian border, as efforts are stepped up to improve security before March parliamentary elections. Sunni and Shi'ite political leaders also continue to do battle over the suspension of scores of candidates for alleged ties to the Ba'ath Party.
在3月份议会选举前，伊拉克加紧改善安全之际，美国和伊拉克官员为伊拉克与叙利亚交界处部分完工的新边境安全防护网举行揭幕仪式。逊尼派和什叶派政治领导人仍继续就大批候选人因与复兴社会党有联系而被取消选举资格的问题争论不休。
Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al Bolani and top security officers showed off the new border security fence with Syria, explaining to reporters that it will reduce both terrorism and smuggling between the two countries. Iraqi officials have complained bitterly in recent months that high-profile terrorist attacks in Baghdad were plotted and executed from inside Syria.
伊拉克内政部长博拉尼以及高级安全官员向外界展示在伊拉克与叙利亚边界处新设立的安全防护网，并向记者解释说，防护网将减少两国之间的恐怖主义和走私活动。伊拉克官员最近几个月强烈抱怨恐怖分子在巴格达发动的高调袭击是在叙利亚境内策划实施的。
Interior Minister Jawad al Bolani, who was severely criticized by opposition politicians for lax security following suicide attacks in August and October in Baghdad, stressed the new border fence will prevent terrorists and other unwanted individuals from infiltrating:
巴格达去年8月和10月发生自杀袭击后，内政部长博拉尼因安全工作松懈受到反对派政治家的猛烈批评。博拉尼强调，新的边境防护网将阻止恐怖分子和其他不受欢迎人员渗入伊拉克。
He says that the most important job of border patrol commanders is to stop infiltration and smuggling to and from Iraq. He notes this is a 24 hour a day job to protect the border from infiltrators, terrorists and others who pose a threat to Iraqi security.
他说，边境巡逻指挥官最重要的工作是阻止非法入境者以及伊拉克边境走私活动。他指出，这是一份全天候24小时的工作。这将保护边境不受非法入境者、恐怖分子和其它对伊拉克安全造成威胁的人的侵害。
Several top Iraqi security forces officers in charge of the border pointed proudly to the new barbed wire fence stretching for hundreds of meters between control towers equipped with cameras to monitor both sides of the border. About 1,300 kilometers of border fence are in the process of being completed in the vast, arid plain that separates Iraq from Syria.
多名负责边境问题的伊拉克高级官员骄傲地指着带有刺铁丝的新防护网。新防护网设在控制塔之间，延伸数百米。控制塔配备监视器，可以监视边境两侧。在伊拉克和叙利亚之间广阔荒芜的边境地带，大约有1300公里长的边境防护网将要完工。
Colonel Ismail Haqi of the Iraqi security forces says the border patrol has been increasingly successful in catching dubious individuals crossing surreptitiously between Syria and Iraq:
伊拉克安全部队哈基上校说，边境巡逻在抓获偷偷穿越叙利亚和伊拉克边境的可疑人员方面越来越成功。
He says the security forces have been successful in capturing more than 550 terrorists, infiltrators and smugglers, in addition to seizing quantities of smuggled items.
他说，安全部队已经成功抓获超过550名恐怖分子、非法入境者以及走私犯。此外，安全部队还缴获了大批走私物品。
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki has frequently claimed that remnants of Saddam Hussein's deposed Ba'ath Party, based in Syria, were trying to either overthrow or discredit his government. Opposition members of parliament regularly accuse the government of security lapses.
伊拉克总理马利基经常宣称，被取缔的萨达姆.侯赛因领导的复兴社会党在叙利亚企图颠覆或抹黑伊拉克政府。议会反对派成员经常指责政府安全措施松懈。
The mostly Sunni-Arab opposition also continues to lock horns with a parliamentary committee that has been working to ban scores of candidates from running in March elections. The committee accuses them of ties to the Ba'ath Party.
Top Sunni leaders have condemned the committee and challenged its legality, while a presidential panel has been charged with investigating the matter. A top committee member, Ali Faisal al Lami denies opposition charges that his body is preparing to ban even more candidates:
He denies that there are any new lists of banned candidates being prepared by his committee to be sent to the Iraqi electoral commission. It is the electoral commission, he argues, that is asking our committee which candidates on the rolls should be barred from running because of to the Ba'ath Party.
Iraqi Parliament Speaker Iyad al Samaraie also reportedly sent a letter to Iraq's high electoral commission, urging it not to apply the de-Ba'athification committee's decision to ban any candidates from running in the March elections. |