2007年VOA标准英语-Gates Says US Will Target All Foreign Fighters

By Al Pessin
Pentagon
26 January 2007

U.S. Defense¹ Secretary Robert Gates says there is no new policy on targeting Iranian operatives in Iraq, as reported Friday by the Washington Post. But he says U.S. forces will target any foreign fighter trying to kill them. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.

 
Defense Secretary Robert Gates takes part in a media roundtable at the Pentagon, 26 Jan 2007
Secretary Gates told his first Pentagon news conference that Friday's Washington Post story has "a number of inaccuracies." The article says there is a new policy under which U.S. troops are authorized² to capture or kill Iranian operatives, if necessary. It says the past policy was to release any captured Iranians after a few days. The Post says the new orders are part of an aggressive new approach to weaken Iran's influence Iraq.

Secretary Gates disagreed.

"It's not clear to me it is different," he said. "I'm not aware of any change in the sense of our forces having the authority to go after those who are attempting to kill Americans, any foreign fighter in Iraq who's trying to kill Americans."

 
President Bush, (r),, meets with, from left, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Gen. David H. Petraeus in the Oval Office of the White House, 26 Jan 2007 

Secretary Gates spoke³ after meeting with President Bush and the new Iraq commander, Lieutenant⁴ General David Petraeus. At the end of that meeting, President Bush said he had made clear what his force protection policy is.

"Our policy is going to be to protect our troops in Iraq. This makes sense, that if somebody is going to try to harm our troops or stop us from achieving our goal or killing⁵ innocent citizens in Iraq that we will stop that," he said.

U.S. officials say they have no evidence that Iranian forces have directly attacked U.S. troops in Iraq. But they say the Iranians provide advice and material for various terrorist and militia⁶ factions⁷ that do attack both U.S. and Iraqi targets. Secretary Gates said he is particularly concerned about Iranian help in the development and construction of sophisticated, high-powered bombs that have been the main killer⁸ of U.S. forces. The military refers to the bombs as Improvised⁹ Explosive Devices, or IEDs.

"We are trying to uproot¹⁰ these networks that are planting IEDs, that are causing 70 percent of our casualties," Gates said. "And if you're in Iraq and trying to kill our troops, then you should consider yourself a target. We're not simply going to stand by and let people bring sophisticated IEDs into the country that can disable an Abrams tank, and give them a free pass."

The Washington Post quotes unnamed U.S. officials as saying there are 150 Iranian intelligence operatives in Iraq. Secretary Gates said he has "no idea" how many there are, but that U.S. forces will target them if they support violent groups.

The Pentagon confirmed Friday it is still holding five Iranians captured two weeks ago in the northern town of Irbil and suspected of supporting violent activities. Those detainees have claimed diplomatic immunity¹¹.

Both President Bush and Secretary Gates said the U.S. approach to Iranian activities in Iraq will not result in any direct U.S. military action aimed at Iran.

Secretary Gates also said he expects all of the promised 21,000 additional U.S. troops to be deployed¹² to Iraq, and he has asked for the process to be expedited. He reports that General Petraeus says he needs all the troops, and he will get them. Previously¹³, U.S. officials had said the deployment¹⁴ would be gradual, and dependent on Iraq's government and military living up to their commitments under the new Baghdad security plan.

The secretary also said the plan to increase the U.S. naval¹⁵ presence in the Persian Gulf¹⁶ region with the addition of a second aircraft carrier strike group is aimed at making clear to U.S. friends and adversaries¹⁷ that stability in the region is important to the United States. He said the move is designed to reassure¹⁸ U.S. friends, and to remind U.S. adversaries they will have to deal with the United States "if they choose to become aggressive." The move has been widely interpreted as show of force aimed at Iran, as part of an effort to convince the country's government to stop interfering¹⁹ in Iraq and to stop developing nuclear weapons.

1 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。

2 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。

3 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。

4 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

6 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

7 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

8 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

9 improvised   

a.即席而作的,即兴的

参考例句：

• He improvised a song about the football team's victory. 他即席创作了一首足球队胜利之歌。
• We improvised a tent out of two blankets and some long poles. 我们用两条毛毯和几根长竿搭成一个临时帐蓬。

10 uproot   

v.连根拔起，拔除；根除，灭绝；赶出家园，被迫移开

参考例句：

• The family decided to uproot themselves and emigrate to Australia.他们全家决定离开故土，移居澳大利亚。
• The trunk of an elephant is powerful enough to uproot trees.大象的长鼻强壮得足以将树木连根拔起。

11 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

12 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

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 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

15 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

16 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。

17 adversaries   

n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• That would cause potential adversaries to recoil from a challenge. 这会迫使潜在的敌人在挑战面前退缩。 来自辞典例句
• Every adversaries are more comfortable with a predictable, coherent America. 就连敌人也会因有可以预料的，始终一致的美国而感到舒服得多。 来自辞典例句

18 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

19 interfering   

adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词

参考例句：

• He's an interfering old busybody! 他老爱管闲事！
• I wish my mother would stop interfering and let me make my own decisions. 我希望我母亲不再干预，让我自己拿主意。