2007年VOA标准英语-US Ready to Raise Iraq Concerns With Iran, Syri

By David Gollust
State Department
08 March 2007

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's top Iraqi affairs adviser¹ says U.S. diplomats³ are prepared to raise concerns over Iraq directly with Iranian and Syrian counterparts at a Baghdad conference Saturday. Rice adviser David Satterfield, who will attend the Baghdad meeting, spoke⁴ to reporters prior to his departure for Baghdad. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.
 
The Baghdad meeting, organized by the Iraqi government, will bring together diplomats from Iraq, neighboring states, and the permanent U.N. Security Council member countries.

As such, it will present a rare occasion in which envoys⁵ from the United States, Iran and Syria, will be together around the same conference table.

The United States has not had diplomatic relations with Iran since 1979 and has a chilly⁶ official relationship with Syria, and it has accused both of activities that have contributed to violence in Iraq.

David Satterfield (file photo)

In a talk with reporters, Ambassador Satterfield said the Baghdad conference is intended as a group discussion of how to make Iraq more stable and secure. 

However he said if the opportunity arises for direct U.S. exchanges with the Iranians and Syrians, it would be in his words, "perfectly⁷ appropriate:"

"If we are approached over orange juice by the Syrians or the Iranians to discuss an Iraq-related issue that is germane⁸ to this topic -- a stable, secure peaceful, democratic Iraq -- we are not going to turn and walk away," Satterfield said. "

Satterfield said in any direct discussion that might occur with the Iranians, the United States would raise its charges that Iranian weapons - including armor piercing explosives - are being used by militants⁹ attacking U.S. troops in Iraq:

"Our concerns about Iran's participation¹⁰ through provision of materiel and training on the use of that materiel, which has been used in the lethal¹¹ targeting of U.S. and coalition¹² forces, is very much a topic for discussion," Satterfield said.

Satterfield, who will head the U.S. delegation¹³ in Baghdad along with the American ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said the United States is looking for meaningful action by Syria to halt the flow across its border with Iraq of foreign fighters and weapons:

"First, the continued crossing of the Syrian border of Jihadist elements who are largely responsible, overwhelmingly responsible, for the bombings taking place in that country," Satterfield said. "As has been the case for some years, the vast majority of all the bombings taking place - the things that you see every day on television - are the responsibility of foreigners. The vast majority of those foreigners continued to come across the Syrian border."

The U.S. diplomat² also said Syria needs to take action against the presence there of Baathist elements from the former Saddam Hussein government, who he said have a significant role in financing and directing the Iraqi insurgency¹⁴.

The Baghdad meeting is expected to be followed in April by a broader, ministerial-level conference, possibly in Istanbul, that would include Secretary Rice and her Iranian and Syrian counterparts, among others.

Satterfield expressed cautious optimism that the Iraqi government's new security plan for Baghdad, backed by a surge in U.S. troops, may be showing positive results.

He said death squad-type killings in the capital have declined sharply, though he said the progress has been obscured by a rash of bomb attacks against civilians which he attributed to al-Qaida terrorists trying to provoke new sectarian violence

1 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。

2 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

3 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 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。

5 envoys   

使节( envoy的名词复数 )； 公使； 谈判代表； 使节身份

参考例句：

• the routine tit for tat when countries expel each other's envoys 国家相互驱逐对方使节这种惯常的报复行动
• Marco Polo's travelogue mentions that Kublai Khan sent envoys to Malgache. 马可波罗游记中提到忽必烈曾派使节到马尔加什。

6 chilly   

adj.凉快的，寒冷的

参考例句：

• I feel chilly without a coat.我由于没有穿大衣而感到凉飕飕的。
• I grew chilly when the fire went out.炉火熄灭后，寒气逼人。

7 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

8 germane   

adj.关系密切的，恰当的

参考例句：

• He asks questions that are germane and central to the issue.他问了一些与论点有密切关系的重要问题。
• Fenton was a good listener,and his questions were germane.芬顿听得聚精会神，提问也切中要害。

9 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

10 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

11 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

12 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。

13 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

14 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网