2007年VOA标准英语-Iraq Security Plan Yields Mixed Results

By Meredith Buel
Washington
30 April 2007

The ongoing¹ surge of additional U.S. troops in Iraq will soon enter its third month, and while sectarian violence is down in Baghdad, progress has been offset² by an increase in deadly suicide bombings by al-Qaida insurgents³. Middle East and military analysts⁴ say it is still too early to tell whether the counterinsurgency strategy will succeed. VOA correspondent Meredith Buel has more in this background report from Washington.

More than half of the nearly 30,000 additional U.S. troops that are part of the Iraq security plan have now been deployed⁵, and the rest are scheduled to arrive before the end of June.

The senior U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, sees mixed results so far.

"We are actually ahead of where I wanted to be in some areas, and probably behind where we might have hoped to be in some other areas," said General Petraeus.

General David Petraeus at the Pentagon, 26 Apr 2007

U.S. military officials say sectarian murders in Baghdad have fallen from 1,200 in January to fewer than 400 in March. They say markets are opening and several thousand families that fled the violence in the Iraqi capital have returned to their homes.

Suicide bombings by al-Qaida insurgents, however, increased 30 percent between mid-February and early April, a troubling trend military strategists fear could reignite sectarian bloodshed.

Frederick Kagan, a military historian and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, says al-Qaida insurgents have increased their attacks in an effort to undermine the Baghdad security plan and erode⁶ support for the war in the United States.

"The al-Qaida surge is very serious," said Frederick Kagan. "It is very significant. It is altering the situation in Iraq in unpredictable ways. It is clearly further eroding⁷ America's will to stay the course here and continue to try to win this war."

Most of the new soldiers being sent to Iraq are in Baghdad and many are still conducting operations to clear neighborhoods of insurgents.

U.S. and Iraqi soldiers are setting up dozens of combat outposts and security stations designed to protect Baghdad residents.

Deploying⁸ U.S. troops on the streets of Baghdad and away from their heavily fortified⁹ bases has increased their vulnerability to attacks. More than 100 American soldiers were killed in Iraq in April, making it the deadliest month for U.S. troops this year.

Retired¹⁰ U.S. Army Captain Andrew Exum, who served as a Special Forces soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan, says exposing troops to greater risks is necessary.

"If you want to actually win the war you have go get out there and make contact with this population," said Andrew Exum. "You have to get out there and make contact with the enemy and you have to disperse¹¹ into these smaller patrol bases. The downside of this is that this is all very hard fighting."

Analysts say it is now critical for the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other Iraqi leaders to make the political compromises necessary for long-term stability.

Michael Eisenstadt, the director of the Military and Security Studies Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, says political progress is critical to sustain gains in security and reduce violence.

"Unfortunately, at this point, that has not yet happened," said Michael Eisenstadt. "There is not measurable progress in my mind on the political front. The political side of this war has not progressed, or the political side of the surge has not progressed to the same extent that the military side has. There are high expectations of the Maliki government, but the payoff has been essentially¹² low."

Frederick Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute first proposed the sustained surge of U.S. troops in Baghdad before the Bush administration adopted the policy earlier this year.

Kagan says it is still too early to determine if the counterinsurgency strategy will ultimately succeed.

"The basic conclusion that I would offer you is that victory is still up for grabs," he said. "Those who would say that the war is lost, definitively¹³, I don't think there is support for that statement in Iraq. I think it is hard. I think we may lose. I think we may win. I think it depends a lot on what we do and it depends a lot on what the enemy does. But I don't think anyone can predict for certain the outcome of this fight at this point."

Kagan argues the surge is a long-term commitment and should last until 2008.

General Petraeus says he will make the first official assessment¹⁴ of the new security plan in September.

1 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

2 offset   

n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿

参考例句：

• Their wage increases would be offset by higher prices.他们增加的工资会被物价上涨所抵消。
• He put up his prices to offset the increased cost of materials.他提高了售价以补偿材料成本的增加。

3 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

4 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。

5 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。

6 erode   

v.侵蚀，腐蚀，使...减少、减弱或消失

参考例句：

• Once exposed,soil is quickly eroded by wind and rain.一旦暴露在外，土壤很快就会被风雨侵蚀。
• Competition in the financial marketplace has eroded profits.金融市场的竞争降低了利润。

7 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。

8 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

9 fortified   

adj. 加强的

参考例句：

• He fortified himself against the cold with a hot drink. 他喝了一杯热饮御寒。
• The enemy drew back into a few fortified points. 敌人收缩到几个据点里。

10 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

11 disperse   

vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散

参考例句：

• The cattle were swinging their tails to disperse the flies.那些牛甩动着尾巴驱赶苍蝇。
• The children disperse for the holidays.孩子们放假了。

12 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

13 definitively   

adv.决定性地，最后地

参考例句：

• None of the three super-states could be definitively conquered even by the other two in combination. 三个超级国家中的任何一国都不可能被任何两国的联盟所绝对打败。 来自英汉文学
• Therefore, nothing can ever be definitively proved with a photograph. 因此，没有什么可以明确了一张照片。 来自互联网

14 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？