VOA标准英语2009年-Guantanamo Trials Suspended After Obama Request

.S. military judges in Guantanamo acted quickly Wednesday morning to suspend two of the 21 terrorism trials now in progress, based on a request from the Obama administration. Judges in the other trials are expected to do the same.
　
Image reviewed by US military, shows 'Camp Justice' sign near high-security courtroom in Guantanamo, Cuba, 08 Dec 2008

One of the trials suspended Wednesday was the biggest of them all - the case against five men accused of involvement in the September 11th attacks on the United States in 2001. The moves came based on requests from military prosecutors¹, acting² on orders from President Obama.

The military trials are suspended for 120 days, and Pentagon Spokesman Bryan Whitman says he expects the Defense³ Department will soon receive further instructions from the new president.

"The president has clearly made his intentions well known, running up to taking his oath of office yesterday in terms of what his intentions are," he said. "And he has taken the first steps with respect to his direction to the secretary of defense to order a pause to military commissions proceedings⁴. I would expect that the department will get additional guidance and direction in the near future."

Whitman says that additional direction could come within days, and he expects it to involve "a broad, comprehensive review."
　
President Barack Obama, accompanied by VP Joe Biden speaks at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, 21 Jan. 2009

Some reports say President Obama will order the Defense Department to come up with a plan to close the Guantanamo detention⁵ center and either release its 250 detainees or move some of them to the United States for trial. Whitman could not confirm that, but Defense Secretary Robert Gates has already ordered a fresh study of the issue, in anticipation⁶ of such an order. Secretary Gates, the only member of former-President Bush's cabinet asked to stay on in the new administration, has said he tried to close Guantanamo after he took office two years ago but was not able to do so under previous policies.

Human rights organizations welcomed the suspension of the military commissions. But the terrorism policy director for Amnesty International USA, Geneve Mantri, says the question now is what comes next.

"Amnesty International thinks this is a great first step," Mantri said. "It's a great move to basically suspend this process. But we're still waiting for the 'meat in the sandwich' to see what the administration is going to come back with in terms of what it's plan is, not only for closing Guantanamo and disposing of these individual cases, but also the wider framework in terms of its approach to international justice and counter-terrorism and terrorism issues."

Mantri says the military commissions are "fundamentally flawed and unfair" and he hopes the Obama Administration will develop a "more free and fair system." The Pentagon has consistently defended the military commissions, and Bryan Whitman did not retreat from that on Wednesday.

"There are any number of people and entities⁷ that have worked with respect to the military commissions, not just this department, the Justice Department, the Congress," he said. "That said, the president has given some clear indications that he wants to take a new approach, a different approach."

Whitman notes that some countries have said they might be more willing to cooperate with the Obama Administration than they were with the Bush administration in offering new homes to some of the Guantanamo detainees.

But experts say the issue of what to do with the rest has not gotten any easier. Some were tortured while in custody⁸, and for some the evidence against them is secret. For both types of detainee, getting a conviction in a U.S. civilian⁹ or military court could be difficult, and even critics of Guantanamo agree that the most dangerous detainees should not be released. That leaves the difficult legal and ethical¹⁰ questions of how and where to hold them and put them on trial, and how to ensure that a court does not release dangerous terrorists.

1 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

2 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

3 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。

4 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

5 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。

6 anticipation   

n.预期，预料，期望

参考例句：

• We waited at the station in anticipation of her arrival.我们在车站等着，期待她的到来。
• The animals grew restless as if in anticipation of an earthquake.各种动物都变得焦躁不安，像是感到了地震即将发生。

7 entities   

实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our newspaper and our printing business form separate corporate entities. 我们的报纸和印刷业形成相对独立的企业实体。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities. 北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

8 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

9 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。

10 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。