2007年VOA标准英语-Iran Pivotal Factor in Proposed New US Approach

By Gary Thomas
Washington
11 January 2007

In his address Wednesday night, President Bush said he wants to boost U.S. troop strength in Iraq to quell¹ sectarian violence.  But he also made clear that the United States holds two of Iraq's neighbors, Iran and Syria, to blame for fueling the clashes.  As VOA correspondent Gary Thomas reports from Washington, the Bush administration is anxious to head off what it perceives to be an Iranian bid for greater influence in the region.

As the violence in Iraq has escalated², so, too, has the rhetoric³ from Bush administration officials about Iran's alleged⁴ support for insurgents⁵ there.  In his Wednesday speech, President Bush directly blamed Iran as well as Syria for providing help to Shi'ite insurgents in Iraq.

 
President George Bush concludes his address to the nation from the White House Library, 10 Jan 2007
"Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops," he said. "We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We'll interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria.  And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq."

After the president spoke⁶, reports emerged of an alleged U.S. raid on the Iranian consulate⁷ in the city of Irbil in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq.  Iraqi officials said six people were detained in the raid and computers and documents were confiscated⁸.  Officials in Tehran angrily denounced the raid and summoned the ambassadors of Iraq and Switzerland - which looks after U.S. interests in Iran because of the lack of diplomatic relations between Tehran and Washington - for an explanation.

A U.S. Defense⁹ Department spokesman says the building raided in Irbil was not a consulate or government building and that he would not connect this event to the president's call to stem the support from Iran and Syria to the insurgents in Iraq.

But, speaking Thursday morning, General Peter Pace, chairman of the U.S. Joint¹⁰ Chiefs of Staff, says Iran is clearly involved with the insurgents in Iraq, and U.S. forces will go after those who are arming them, but only within Iraq.

"I think that it's instructive that in the last couple of weeks two of these raids that we conducted that go after these folks that are providing those kinds of weapons policed up [rounded up] Iranians," he said.  "So it is clear that the Iranians are complicit in providing weapons.  And it's also clear that we will do all that we need to do to defend our troops in Iraq by going after the entire network, regardless of where those people come from."

 
An Iraqi watches US President George  Bush speaking about his new strategy for Iraq on a TV screen in Baghdad, 11 Jan 2007  
The president also announced he is sending an aircraft carrier and supporting ships to the Persian Gulf¹¹.

While there was no threat, in the speech, of direct military action against Iran, Mehrzad Boroujerdi, a fellow of the MIddle East Institute and director of Middle East studies at Syracuse University, says the administration's rhetoric is becoming more bellicose¹².

"Frankly¹³, they smell a bit of adventurism as far as I'm concerned, and one is worried about the repercussions¹⁴ of these things," he said.  "I think it's intended to send a signal to the Iranians.  But, as you know, in that region of the world things can quickly develop a momentum¹⁵ of their own and get out of hand and the law of unintended consequences will take over."

The Iran-Iraq relationship is a complex one. Iran fought a bloody¹⁶ war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq from 1980 to 1988.  Now Saddam is gone, thanks, ironically, to the United States.  Analysts¹⁸ say that with Saddam's departure, Iran seeks to become a regional power, and believes it has a natural ally in the Shi'ite-led Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Reva Bhalla, an Iran analyst¹⁷ with Stratfor, a U.S.-based private intelligence firm, says Iran believes that America's difficulty in Iraq is Iran's opportunity to become a regional power, especially if it acquires nuclear weapons, as the West fears.

"Iraq used to be this Sunni hostile state against Iran, and the memories of the Iran-Iraq war are very vivid in Tehran still today," she noted¹⁹.  "So to be able to secure its western flank and consolidate²⁰ Shi'ite control in the country is huge for Iran.  And to have the nuclear deterrent²¹ as well is going to raise Iran to the status that it has been trying to [achieve] since the Islamic Republic [of Iran] came to be."

Bhalla says that if the United States were to withdraw prematurely²² and Iran would step into the breach²³, that would leave not only the United States, but also Israel and Sunni Arab states that neighbor Iraq in what she calls an untenable position.

"Saudi Arabia, for example, can't be assured that the Iranian march into Iraq is going to stop there," she added.  "And they have to look at how to protect their southern oil fields, especially when they are just completely dependent on the United States for [their] own national security.  So by surging troops into the country, I think the U.S. is showing that it is still very much in the game.  And that strategy may be in concert with Israel as well."

Iran insists it wants stability in Iraq.  Iranian Foreign Ministry²⁴ Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hossein said Iran would not allow the United States to impair²⁵, as he phrased it, Tehran's relations with Baghdad and that the Bush plan to send additional troops will only extend insecurity, danger, and tension there.  Syrian Vice²⁶ President Farouk al-Sharaa said the troop increase will only, as he put it, pour oil on the fire.

1 quell   

v.压制，平息，减轻

参考例句：

• Soldiers were sent in to quell the riots.士兵们被派去平息骚乱。
• The armed force had to be called out to quell violence.不得不出动军队来镇压暴力行动。

2 escalated   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The fighting escalated into a full-scale war. 这场交战逐步扩大为全面战争。
• The demonstration escalated into a pitched battle with the police. 示威逐步升级，演变成了一场同警察的混战。

3 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

4 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

5 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 consulate   

n.领事馆

参考例句：

• The Spanish consulate is the large white building opposite the bank.西班牙领事馆是银行对面的那栋高大的白色建筑物。
• The American consulate was a magnificent edifice in the centre of Bordeaux.美国领事馆是位于波尔多市中心的一座宏伟的大厦。

8 confiscated   

没收，充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Their land was confiscated after the war. 他们的土地在战后被没收。
• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。

9 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。

10 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

11 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

12 bellicose   

adj.好战的；好争吵的

参考例句：

• He expressed alarm about the government's increasingly bellicose statements.他对政府越来越具挑衅性的声明表示担忧。
• Some irresponsible politicians made a bellicose remarks.一些不负责任的政客说出一些好战的话语。

13 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

14 repercussions   

n.后果，反响( repercussion的名词复数 )；余波

参考例句：

• The collapse of the company will have repercussions for the whole industry. 这家公司的垮台将会给整个行业造成间接的负面影响。
• Human acts have repercussions far beyond the frontiers of the human world. 人类行为所产生的影响远远超出人类世界的范围。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

16 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

17 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

18 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

19 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

20 consolidate   

v.使加固，使加强；(把...)联为一体，合并

参考例句：

• The two banks will consolidate in July next year. 这两家银行明年7月将合并。
• The government hoped to consolidate ten states to form three new ones.政府希望把十个州合并成三个新的州。

21 deterrent   

n.阻碍物，制止物；adj.威慑的，遏制的

参考例句：

• Large fines act as a deterrent to motorists.高额罚款是对开车的人的制约。
• I put a net over my strawberries as a deterrent to the birds.我在草莓上罩了网，免得鸟歇上去。

22 prematurely   

adv.过早地，贸然地

参考例句：

• She was born prematurely with poorly developed lungs. 她早产，肺部未发育健全。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His hair was prematurely white, but his busy eyebrows were still jet-black. 他的头发已经白了，不过两道浓眉还是乌黑乌黑的。 来自辞典例句

23 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。

24 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

25 impair   

v.损害，损伤；削弱，减少

参考例句：

• Loud noise can impair your hearing.巨大的噪音有损听觉。
• It can not impair the intellectual vigor of the young.这不能磨灭青年人思想活力。

26 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。