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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Washington
08 May 2008
A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee heard testimony1 Tuesday about the detainees at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. Senior U.S. officials say the Bush administration could announce plans before the end of its term in January to close the controversial prison. VOA's Deborah Block reports from Washington.
The U.S. government is under international and domestic pressure to close the prison camp. It opened in January 2002 to house terror suspects. Debate has intensified2 in recent months over how to deal with Guantanamo.
Congressman3 Bill Delahunt, a Democrat4, is head of a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on human rights. He says some detainees have been held unjustly.
"But once discovered, we should acknowledge those mistakes and fix them, design a system that allows redress5, that embraces the rule of law in full measure and that shows the world that American justice is not afraid of the truth but in fact seeks the truth, however embarrassing that may be to those in power," he said.
More than 500 prisoners have been released from Guantanamo. But most of the remaining 270 detainees have been confined for years without charge. So far, one prisoner has been tried in a military tribunal and convicted. The U.S. government says it intends to try between 60 and 80 of the remaining prisoners.
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican, does not apologize for detaining radical6 Islamists who have killed innocent people. But he agrees that the U.S. should own up to its mistakes.
He says, "Now obviously some of the people in any type of chaotic7 situation are innocent and we should do our very best make sure in time of conflict, that we admit our mistakes, we tell the truth."
Attorney Emi MacLean is with the Guantanamo Global Justice Initiative. The group advocates for Guantanamo detainees. She says the detention8 camp has not made the U.S. safer.
"The continued existence of Guantanamo as an offshore9 prison facility intended to be as outside of the reach of the law is destruction for the U.S. image abroad and counterproductive for human rights and national and international security,” MacLean said.
In some cases, the U.S. has returned detainees to their home countries after receiving assurances they would not be tortured there. Congressmen Delahunt says the practice troubles him. He says countries such as Libya, Iran and Kazakhstan practice systematic10 torture.
Even if the prison closes, government officials are debating other options, including the transfer of detainees to high security military prisons in the United States.
The U.S. Supreme11 Court is expected to rule soon on the rights of Guantanamo prisoners and whether they can use civilian12 courts to challenge their confinement13.
1 testimony | |
n.证词;见证,证明 | |
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2 intensified | |
v.(使)增强, (使)加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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3 Congressman | |
n.(美)国会议员 | |
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4 democrat | |
n.民主主义者,民主人士;民主党党员 | |
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5 redress | |
n.赔偿,救济,矫正;v.纠正,匡正,革除 | |
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6 radical | |
n.激进份子,原子团,根号;adj.根本的,激进的,彻底的 | |
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7 chaotic | |
adj.混沌的,一片混乱的,一团糟的 | |
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8 detention | |
n.滞留,停留;拘留,扣留;(教育)留下 | |
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9 offshore | |
adj.海面的,吹向海面的;adv.向海面 | |
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10 systematic | |
adj.有系统的,有计划的,有方法的 | |
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11 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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12 civilian | |
adj.平民的,民用的,民众的 | |
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13 confinement | |
n.幽禁,拘留,监禁;分娩;限制,局限 | |
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