2007年VOA标准英语-Iraq War Continues Four Years After Invasion

By Bill Rodgers
Washington
16 March 2007

watch Iraq Anniversary

It was four years ago that the United States and its coalition¹ partners invaded Iraq, easily toppling the regime of Saddam Hussein. But that quick victory was soon overshadowed by insurgent² and terrorist attacks aimed not only at coalition troops but the civilian³ population as well. Today, Iraq is torn by sectarian violence and the Bush administration has decided⁴ to increase the number of combat troops in the country - a controversial move that divides many Americans. VOA's Bill Rodgers takes a look at the situation in Iraq on the fourth anniversary of the war.

 
US President George W. Bush addressing the nation aboard the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, 01 May 2003
The invasion was quick, casualties were relatively⁵ low, and Saddam Hussein's regime was easily toppled. The easy victory led President Bush to make this declaration in May 2003 aboard the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln:

"Major combat operations in Iraq have ended," he said. "In the battle of Iraq, the United States and her allies have prevailed."

But mounting attacks by Sunni Arab insurgents⁶ and al-Qaida terrorists against coalition forces and suicide bombings directed at Iraqi civilians⁷, especially the majority Shi'ites, undermined efforts to bring stability to Iraq. Critics say there were not enough U.S. troops to maintain control and cite what they say was a lack of post-invasion planning.

"There really was no plan for what to do with our forces after Saddam fell," said Michael O'Hanlon, a senior foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution. "There was confusion in the policy, it was badly handled, and it allowed a sense of chaos⁸ to result and our momentum⁹ from being perceived as liberators was quickly squandered¹⁰."

However, some progress was made. Free elections were held in 2005 to approve a constitution and later to elect a government. Millions of Iraqis braved terrorist threats to cast ballots¹¹ -- a clear message of the desire for democracy among ordinary Iraqis. But after the voting was over, suicide bombings and other attacks resumed. The February 2006 bombing of the Shi'ite Golden Dome¹² Mosque¹³ in Samarra escalated¹⁴ what had become a multi-factional civil war.

 
Iraqi army soldiers evacuate¹⁵ their wounded comrade from the building of the Iraqi ministry¹⁶ of public works, 26 Feb 2007
U.S. Defense¹⁷ Secretary Robert Gates recently described the situation this way at a Senate hearing.

"We face, in essence, four different wars -- the war of Shia on Shia, principally in the south; sectarian conflict, principally in Baghdad and the environs of Baghdad; third a Baathist insurgency¹⁸; and fourth, al-Qaida," he said.

A newly released Pentagon report uses the words "civil war" to describe some aspects of the Iraq situation. The report says there were record levels of violence in the last quarter of 2006, with weekly attacks rising to more than 1,000 during the period. It said nearly 100 Iraqi civilians were killed or wounded a day.

To reduce this violence, President Bush announced in January the deployment¹⁹ of more than 20,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq. He said their mission is to help Iraqi security forces stop the violence, primarily in Baghdad, and disarm²⁰ the militias²¹.

For his part, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki vowed²² to take a number of political steps to achieve reconciliation²³ and curb²⁴ the Shi'ite militias, including the one led by radical²⁵ Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

In early March, President Bush expressed confidence the new strategy is working.

"This strategy is going to take time. And we can expect al-Qaida and other extremists to try to derail the strategy by launching spectacular attacks," said Mr. Bush. "Yet even at this early hour, there are some encouraging signs."

 
A US soldier keeps watch in a Shi'ite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq (File)

Among those encouraging signs, he said, are the deployment of additional Iraqi army brigades to the capital and a sizable increase in security checkpoints in the city.

Middle East expert James Phillips of the Heritage Foundation says the so-called "troop surge" may help buy time for the Iraqi government.

"Even a temporary improvement in security and diminishment of sectarian violence is important because it buys time for the Iraqi government to get its act together, to reach out to Sunnis, to try to undermine the insurgency and try to build its own authority within the various power vacuums inside Iraq," Phillips said.

But bombings and other attacks continue. More than 150 people were killed in early March in attacks against Shi'ite pilgrims traveling to Karbala, south of Baghdad for religious observances. The violence leads observers, such as Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution, to worry the surge may not work and that another strategy may have to be devised.

"Four years into this war, and one year into the civil war, I think it is fairly hard to be real optimistic. I tend to think it [the surge] is the right thing to try for a few months because it does follow most of the logic²⁶ of what we've been believing should be the right approach for a long time but we have to expect it might not work. Therefore the proper strategy is to do this temporarily while preparing Plan B," O'Hanlon said.

"Plan B in my mind would be some kind of soft partition of Iraq," he explained, "where you help people re-locate if necessary so they'll be in regions where they will be safer. You agree to share the oil, have a small federal government but the regions primarily govern themselves. So you have Sunnis primarily governing and policing Sunni Arabs, similarly for Kurds and Shia."

Some reports indicate life is returning to normal in parts of Baghdad following the initial increase of U.S. and Iraqi security forces. But with more than 3,100 U.S. troops killed in Iraq so far, opinion polls show most Americans believe the war was a mistake and want U.S. troops brought home in the next 12 months. The Democratically controlled Congress is trying to find ways to force President Bush to begin an early withdrawal²⁷ - a move Mr. Bush is resisting, warning it would lead to disaster.

1 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。

2 insurgent   

adj.叛乱的，起事的；n.叛乱分子

参考例句：

• Faruk says they are threatened both by insurgent and government forces.法鲁克说，他们受到暴乱分子和政府军队的双重威胁。
• The insurgent mob assembled at the gate of the city park.叛变的暴徒聚在市立公园的门口。

3 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

6 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

7 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

8 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

9 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。

10 squandered   

v.（指钱，财产等）浪费，乱花( squander的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He squandered all his money on gambling. 他把自己所有的钱都糟蹋在赌博上了。
• She felt as indignant as if her own money had been squandered. 她心里十分生气，好像是她自己的钱给浪费掉了似的。 来自飘（部分）

11 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 dome   

n.圆屋顶，拱顶

参考例句：

• The dome was supported by white marble columns.圆顶由白色大理石柱支撑着。
• They formed the dome with the tree's branches.他们用树枝搭成圆屋顶。

13 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

14 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。

15 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

16 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。

17 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。

18 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

19 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。

20 disarm   

v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和

参考例句：

• The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. 全世界等待伊拉克解除武装已有12年之久。
• He has rejected every peaceful opportunity offered to him to disarm.他已经拒绝了所有能和平缴械的机会。

21 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

22 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

23 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。

24 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

25 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

26 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

27 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。