2006年VOA标准英语-Report Points to Regional Approach for Iraq

By Gary Thomas
Washington
06 December 2006

The Iraq Study Group report paints a grim assessment¹ of the situation in Iraq. Although it makes recommendations, it says those recommendations are by no means foolproof. As VOA correspondent Gary Thomas reports from Washington, the commission is suggesting the United States move to a regional, rather than unilateral, approach to stabilize² the country.

Co-chairmen of the Iraq Study Group Lee Hamilton (r) and James Baker

Citing what it calls a "grave and deteriorating³ situation" in Iraq, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group's much-awaited report makes 79 specific recommendations. Boiled down to essentials, the report suggests that Iraq's neighbors be persuaded to help stabilize the country and bring about political reconciliation⁴ while U.S. forces gradually disengage from a direct combat role.

The report calls for a diplomatic offensive and the creation of an "Iraq International Support Group" that would include Iraq's neighbors, including Iran and Syria.

Larry Diamond, a former adviser⁵ to the Coalition⁶ Provisional Authority in Iraq and a consultant⁷ to the commission, tells VOA the group realized that all of Iraq's neighbors have both a role and a stake in seeing a stable government in Baghdad.

"It means recognizing that Iraq is embedded⁹ in a regional context which is feeding the descent into civil war and the polarization of the country internally," said Larry Diamond. "And unless all the regional actors are involved, or invited to become involved, to recognize their own stake in the stabilization¹⁰ of Iraq, the situation will likely not be stabilized¹¹."

The report also calls on the United States to talk directly with Iran and Syria - something the Bush Administration has adamantly¹² refused to do. Commission co-chair Lee Hamilton said that while that recommendation may strike some as controversial, such talks are the only way to get Damascus and Tehran to use their influence among warring Iraqi factions¹³.

"If you don't talk to them, we don't see much chance of progress being made," said Lee Hamilton. "You cannot look at this area of the world and pick and choose among the countries that you're going to deal with. Everything in the Middle East is connected to everything else. And this diplomatic initiative that we have put forward recognizes that."

But Larry Goodson, a professor of Middle East Studies at the U.S. Army War College, says it will be more difficult to deal with the government of Iranian hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than his predecessor¹⁴, the reform-minded Mohammad Khatemi.

"Now I think it's going to be much harder to get Iran to play a constructive¹⁵ role, which doesn't mean that we shouldn't be trying to talk to them and build them into this support group," said Larry Goodson. "I'm just not sure that we can make this thing be successful because now you are asking countries in the region to really set aside their national interests in favor of an American-defined conception of their national interests vis-à-vis Iraq."

The report also calls for U.S. troops to be withdrawn¹⁶ from a direct combat role by 2008 and to embed⁸ U.S. military advisers¹⁷ with Iraqi units to train them. Nora Bensahell, a political scientist at the RAND Corporation, says the commission may be a bit too optimistic about that.

"The problem is that it's proved very difficult to train Iraqi army units," said Nora Bensahell. "Although that process has been going on and it has improved in the past few months, it still has an incredibly long way to go. There is a risk that by taking U.S. forces off combat patrols, which is what they're doing now, you will actually increase the levels of violence in the short to medium term, which could leave a gap while the U.S. is getting its efforts to increase its training efforts off the ground."

President Bush said Wednesday that neither he nor Congress will approve of all 79 recommendations. But Larry Diamond, now at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University, says selectively choosing which of them should be adopted may short-circuit the effort to stabilize Iraq.

"Well, it's unlikely that the administration is simply going to accept wholesale¹⁸ and without modification¹⁹ all 79 recommendations," he said. "But there is a kind of philosophical²⁰ approach here that puts a heavy emphasis on internal negotiations²¹ for political reconciliation and constitutional compromise, and regional negotiations to foster that to create an enabling environment for stabilization in Iraq. And I'd say that if you start altering big pieces of the approach, it starts to break down pretty quickly."

The Bush Administration is conducting its own internal review of Iraq policy separate from the bipartisan Iraq Study Group's effort.

1 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

2 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

3 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。

4 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

5 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

6 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

7 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

8 embed   

vt.把…嵌(埋、插)入，扎牢；使深留脑中

参考例句：

• The harpoon struck but did not embed.鱼叉击中了但并没有插入。
• This photo showed us how did the root of plant embed the soil deeply.这张照片显示植物的根是如何深入到土壤里去的。

9 embedded   

a.扎牢的

参考例句：

• an operation to remove glass that was embedded in his leg 取出扎入他腿部玻璃的手术
• He has embedded his name in the minds of millions of people. 他的名字铭刻在数百万人民心中。

10 Stabilization   

稳定化

参考例句：

• The position of barycentre on plane directly impacts the stabilization and manipulation of plane. 飞机重心位置直接影响飞机的稳定和操纵特性。
• With the higher olefins, stabilization of the energetic intermediates occurs more easily. 在较高的烯烃情况下，高能的中间物稳定作用更易出现。

11 stabilized   

v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The patient's condition stabilized. 患者的病情稳定下来。
• His blood pressure has stabilized. 他的血压已经稳定下来了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

12 adamantly   

adv.坚决地，坚定不移地，坚强不屈地

参考例句：

• "Come over here,"he told her adamantly. “到这边来，”他对她坚定地说。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His family were adamantly opposed to the marriage. 他的家人坚决反对这门亲事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别

14 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

15 constructive   

adj.建设的，建设性的

参考例句：

• We welcome constructive criticism.我们乐意接受有建设性的批评。
• He is beginning to deal with his anger in a constructive way.他开始用建设性的方法处理自己的怒气。

16 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

17 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

18 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

19 modification   

n.修改，改进，缓和，减轻

参考例句：

• The law,in its present form,is unjust;it needs modification.现行的法律是不公正的，它需要修改。
• The design requires considerable modification.这个设计需要作大的修改。

20 philosophical   

adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的

参考例句：

• The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
• She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。

21 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。