2006年VOA标准英语-Experts Puzzled Over US Release of Capture

By Gary Thomas
Washington
30 March 2006

Under pressure from some members of Congress, Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte ordered the public release of thousands of documents and other files captured in Iraq. But, experts are puzzled as to why the documents were apparently¹ released with little or no screening.

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Iraqi government photo of a soldier with a sniper rifle  
  

The initial release of some 600 items from an estimated 50,000 boxes of files is posted on a website of the U.S. Army's Foreign Military Studies Office. Accompanying the release is an official disclaimer that says the U.S. government cannot vouch² for the authenticity³, truthfulness⁴, or accuracy of any of the released files.

Defense⁵ Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says many of the documents and tapes have not been thoroughly⁶ reviewed prior to release.

"These things are mostly in Arabic and they're going to be put out by the government of the United States without, in many cases, having been read or translated or analyzed⁷ or checked, simply because the decision has been made that with a quick review a great amount of it is - it is appropriate to put out a large amount of it," he said.

Former CIA officer Michael Scheuer, who once headed the unit tracking Osama bin⁸ Laden⁹, says it is unprecedented¹⁰ to release thousands of captured files without any preliminary screening. He points out that captured files from Nazi¹¹ Germany were not declassified¹² and released until many years after the end of World War II.

"To give away that amount of documents without first having examined them thoroughly to see if there was any information that was either operationally useful or incriminating or damning to some of America's allies or embarrassing to the U.S. government itself is really an irresponsible act," he said.

But another former CIA officer sees no security problem. Reuel Marc Gerecht, now a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, says the Saddam Hussein regime is gone and there is no reason to classify the material.

"I applaud the decision to release it," he said. "It should have been released sooner. And they should not allow the [Central Intelligence] Agency to classify any of that Iraqi documentation."

Ironically, the release comes at the same time that officials have removed previously¹³ declassified historical documents from public archives and repositories to make them secret again.

Michael Scheuer believes the government hopes somebody will uncover a key piece of evidence that will bolster¹⁴ the Bush administration's rationale for going to war with Iraq. But Reuel Gerecht plays down any political motivation for the documents' release. He says the government simply does not have enough competent Arabic linguists¹⁵ to sift¹⁶ through and screen all the material.

"Well, they won't be able to screen them," he said. "If we have to wait for them to screen them, we'll all be dead. You cannot overestimate¹⁷ the fatigue¹⁸ the American government has in handling Arabic documentation. There's no way in god's earth the American government could competently review that material. The only chance you have for a thorough review of that material is by outsiders."
 

A purported¹⁹ Russian report on American troop dispositions²⁰ in the Gulf  
  
One document from the Iraqi archive says Russia gave away U.S. troop movements to the Saddam Hussein regime on the eve of the U.S. invasion in 2003. Russia has denied the charge.

But official U.S. reaction to the charge that Russia put American troops in danger has been muted. Michael Scheuer says he is not surprised that Russia might have given information to Saddam Hussein. But he is puzzled that it had not produced any howls of outrage²¹ from the administration or Congress.

"I really do not know what to make of it," he said. "It does not surprise me, if it is true, that the Russians would supply information to Saddam. They had a very close relationship. And the Russians are more our friends in our own imagination than they are in fact. But to release it just publicly and then just be silent about it - it is very difficult to understand what they are doing.

Reuel Gerecht offers possible explanations, including one that the Russians may have been duped by American intelligence to pass misleading information to Baghdad.

"One would not be shocked if the Russians gave away U.S. troop movements," he said. "You would be shocked if they did not. It is not clear that any of the information relayed was actually accurate, which could mean that the information that was relayed was just simply bad. It could mean that the information that was relayed by the Russians was actually planted. So it is very, very difficult to assess this properly yet."

Officials say it will take about one year to release all the captured material.

1 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

2 vouch   

v.担保；断定；n.被担保者

参考例句：

• They asked whether I was prepared to vouch for him.他们问我是否愿意为他作担保。
• I can vouch for the fact that he is a good worker.我保证他是好员工。

3 authenticity   

n.真实性

参考例句：

• There has been some debate over the authenticity of his will. 对于他的遗嘱的真实性一直有争论。
• The museum is seeking an expert opinion on the authenticity of the painting. 博物馆在请专家鉴定那幅画的真伪。

4 truthfulness   

n. 符合实际

参考例句：

• Among her many virtues are loyalty, courage, and truthfulness. 她有许多的美德，如忠诚、勇敢和诚实。
• I fired a hundred questions concerning the truthfulness of his statement. 我对他发言的真实性提出一连串质问。

5 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。

6 thoroughly   

adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地

参考例句：

• The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
• The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。

7 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

9 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

10 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

11 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

12 declassified   

adj.解密的v.对（机密文件等）销密( declassify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Thousands of classified documents have now been declassified. 数以千计的保密文件现在被解密了。
• The software used for Siemens S7-300 encryption logic block declassified. 此软件用于对西门子S7-300加密逻辑块解密。

13 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

14 bolster   

n.枕垫；v.支持，鼓励

参考例句：

• The high interest rates helped to bolster up the economy.高利率使经济更稳健。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

15 linguists   

n.通晓数国语言的人( linguist的名词复数 )；语言学家

参考例句：

• The linguists went to study tribal languages in the field. 语言学家们去实地研究部落语言了。 来自辞典例句
• The linguists' main interest has been to analyze and describe languages. 语言学家的主要兴趣一直在于分析并描述语言。 来自辞典例句

16 sift   

v.筛撒，纷落，详察

参考例句：

• Sift out the wheat from the chaff.把小麦的壳筛出来。
• Sift sugar on top of the cake.在蛋糕上面撒上糖。

17 overestimate   

v.估计过高，过高评价

参考例句：

• Don't overestimate seriousness of the problem.别把问题看重了。
• We overestimate our influence and our nuisance value.我们过高地估计了自己的影响力和破坏作用。

18 fatigue   

n.疲劳，劳累

参考例句：

• The old lady can't bear the fatigue of a long journey.这位老妇人不能忍受长途旅行的疲劳。
• I have got over my weakness and fatigue.我已从虚弱和疲劳中恢复过来了。

19 purported   

adj.传说的，谣传的v.声称是…，（装得）像是…的样子( purport的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• the scene of the purported crime 传闻中的罪案发生地点
• The film purported to represent the lives of ordinary people. 这部影片声称旨在表现普通人的生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 dispositions   

安排( disposition的名词复数 )； 倾向； （财产、金钱的）处置； 气质

参考例句：

• We got out some information about the enemy's dispositions from the captured enemy officer. 我们从捕获的敌军官那里问出一些有关敌军部署的情况。
• Elasticity, solubility, inflammability are paradigm cases of dispositions in natural objects. 伸缩性、可缩性、易燃性是天然物体倾向性的范例。

21 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。