2007年VOA标准英语-US Lawmakers Debate Closure of Guantanamo Facil

By Dan Robinson
Washington
29 March 2007

A detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba being escorted by two U.S. soldiers

Arguments for and against the closure of the U.S. facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba used for the interrogation and detention¹ of suspected terrorists and trials by military commissions, were heard across Capitol Hill Thursday. VOA's Dan Robinson reports, proponents² argued that the facility damages the U.S. image around the world, while others asserted it is a vital part of the war on terrorism.

Debate over Guantanamo has raged ever since the United States began transporting Taleban and suspected al-Qaida fighters from Afghanistan to the facility in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. Controversy³ escalated⁴ after the revelation of abuses by some U.S. military personnel and contractors⁵ at the Abu-Ghraib prison in Iraq, as well as at Guantanamo.

Lawmakers seeking Guantanamo's closure face a dilemma⁶. They want to ensure that self-confessed terrorists, such as September 11 plotter Kalid Sheik Mohamed, are secured but worry about damage done to the U.S. image and its credibility as an upholder of justice and human rights.

Virginia Democrat⁷ Jim Moran spoke⁸ at a hearing of the House Defense⁹ Subcommittee considering the Pentagon budget. "It is eroding¹⁰ our own credibility, the reputation we seek to establish and sustain in terms of what we are there for, what we represent, the founding principles of habeus corpus and the like," he said.

The question of closing Guantanamo, as well as debate over the Military Commissions Act, passed by Congress in 2006 to establish a legal framework for military trials, were also subjects of a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee.

Congressman¹¹ Ike Skelton says there is no doubt Guantanamo has undermined the moral authority of the United States and its ability to rally support for its policies. But any decision about closing the facility, he asserts, needs to be considered carefully.

"There is a core group of hardened terrorists who must be detained, tried and confined for a long time. Determining where we lock up these hard core detainees for a long time so they cannot return to the battlefield is the question before us."

Patrick Philbin, a former deputy associate attorney general, argues that transferring Guantanamo detainees to the United States would not only create security risks, but would do little to quiet international criticism. "International criticism does not depend primarily on the place where enemy combatants are detained. Instead, it rejects the fundamental legal paradigm¹² under which the U.S. asserts the right to detain individuals as enemy combatants, and hence without charge, in an armed conflict with al-Qaida," he said.

Neal Katyal, professor of law at Georgetown University, was a lawyer for Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni whose case challenging his detention at Guantanamo led to a 2006 Supreme¹³ Court ruling striking down Bush administration plans at the time for military tribunals.

If the administration is so certain military commission trials will be fair, he says, they should be moved to the United States. "And have the type of orderly review that this nation has always had, up to the Supreme Court, let's test that, let's see if these things are really fair. Let's not have these trials in a place the administration says is a legal black hole, in which people are going to be convicted, and these convictions are ultimately going to have to be undone," he said.

Elisa Massimino, Director of the Washington, D.C. office of Human Rights First, says U.S. detainee policies generally have not helped the U.S. in the war on terrorism. "The policy at Guantanamo, which treats terrorists as combatants in a war against the U.S., but rejects application of the laws of war, has had the doubly pernicious effects of degrading the laws of war while conferring on suspected terrorists the elevated status of combatants," he said.

William Taft, a former legal adviser¹⁴ at the Department of State, says an impression remains¹⁵ abroad that the U.S. set up the Guantanamo detention facility to deprive detainees of rights they would otherwise have. "Logistically, I imagine Guantanamo still has a number of advantages over other options. It seems doubtful however that these outweigh¹⁶ the political costs of continuing its operation," he said.

In a separate hearing, former State Department human rights official, John Shattuck, called Guantanamo one of three "black eyes" for the United States along with the issue of torture, and the stripping of detainee rights. "The U.S. should not be known as a country that tolerates torture, and the U.S. should not be known as a country that does not permit detainees access to the courts," he said.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates reiterated¹⁷ to lawmakers Thursday his view that a way should be found to close Guantanamo.

But he also stressed that any closure should not result in the release of detainees who pose a threat. "There are some people down there that if we release them, have made very clear that they will come back and attack this country. So how we deal with that over the long-term frankly¹⁸ I think is a challenge that rests before both the Congress and executive branch, he said.

President Bush and other administration officials have also said they favor the eventual¹⁹ closure of the Guantanamo facility, but say this will not be easy because of as many as 70 to 80 upcoming military trials and the dangers posed by the most hard core terrorist suspects.

1 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

2 proponents   

n.（某事业、理论等的）支持者，拥护者( proponent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Reviewing courts were among the most active proponents of hybrid rulemaking procedures. 复审法院是最积极的混合型规则制定程序的建议者。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• Proponents of such opinions were arrested as 'traitors. ' 提倡这种主张的人马上作为“卖国贼”逮捕起来。 来自辞典例句

3 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

4 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。

5 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

7 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

8 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。

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 eroding   

侵蚀，腐蚀( erode的现在分词 )； 逐渐毁坏，削弱，损害

参考例句：

• The coast is slowly eroding. 海岸正慢慢地被侵蚀。
• Another new development is eroding the age-old stereotype of the male warrior. 另一个新现象是，久已形成的男人皆武士的形象正逐渐消失。

11 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

12 paradigm   

n.例子，模范，词形变化表

参考例句：

• He had become the paradigm of the successful man. 他已经成为成功人士的典范。
• Moreover,the results of this research can be the new learning paradigm for digital design studios.除此之外，本研究的研究成果也可以为数位设计课程建立一个新的学习范例。

13 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

14 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。

15 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

16 outweigh   

vt.比...更重，...更重要

参考例句：

• The merits of your plan outweigh the defects.你制定的计划其优点胜过缺点。
• One's merits outweigh one's short-comings.功大于过。

17 reiterated   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "Well, I want to know about it,'she reiterated. “嗯，我一定要知道你的休假日期，"她重复说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some twenty-two years later President Polk reiterated and elaborated upon these principles. 大约二十二年之后，波尔克总统重申这些原则并且刻意阐释一番。

18 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。

19 eventual   

adj.最后的，结局的，最终的

参考例句：

• Several schools face eventual closure.几所学校面临最终关闭。
• Both parties expressed optimism about an eventual solution.双方对问题的最终解决都表示乐观。