VOA双语新闻 Shortage of Vehicle Armor（在线收听）

Bush administration officials continue to react to a complaint from an American soldier headed for Iraq that U.S. forces deployed for battle there are not getting the vehicle armor they need to protect themselves from attacks. The issue came up during a visit to the troops in Kuwait by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Wednesday and continues to reverberate around Washington.

在一名即将奔赴伊拉克的美军士兵抱怨战地美军的车辆得不到必要的装甲防护之后，布什政府官员仍在对此做出回应。国防部长拉姆斯菲尔德星期三探访驻科威特美军时，有位士兵当场向他发问，这个问题继续在华盛顿产生震荡。

A U.S. military commander in Kuwait says soldiers headed for Iraq still do not have all the armor they need to protect their vehicles from explosives and mortar shells being fired at them by Iraqi insurgents on a daily basis.

一名驻科威特的美军指挥官说，奔赴伊拉克的官兵仍然没有得到他们所需要的全部装甲。伊拉克反叛分子每天都在使用炸弹和迫击炮袭击美军，美军的车辆急需装甲防护装置。

A day after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was questioned about the shortages by a soldier who will soon be deployed to Iraq, Army Lieutenant General Steve Whitcomb told reporters about 2,000 more fully armored Humvees are still needed. "Our goal and what we're working towards is that no wheeled vehicle that leaves Kuwait going into Iraq is driven by a solder that does not have some level of armored protection on it," he said.

一名即将调往伊拉克的士兵星期三向国防部长拉姆斯菲尔德提出了部队车辆缺乏装甲的问题。星期四，陆军中将史蒂夫·惠特科姆对媒体表示，美军仍然需要大约两 千辆装甲防护齐全的“悍马”军车。他说：“我们的目标和努力方向是，任何一名 军人驾驶的、离开科威特前往伊拉克的车辆，都不能没有某种程度的装甲防护。”

The Kuwait-based general took questions from reporters at the Pentagon following Wednesday's pointed exchange between Secretary Rumsfeld and Specialist Thomas Wilson, one of several thousand soldiers headed for battle. "Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-arm our vehicles and why don't we have those resources readily available to us?"

派驻科威特的惠特科姆将军回答了驻五角大楼记者的提问。在这之前一天，即将和几千名军人一道前往伊拉克的专业兵托马斯·威尔逊曾经这样当面质问国防部长拉 姆斯菲尔德：“我们这些当兵的为什么要在当地的垃圾堆里搜寻废铁和用过的防弹 玻璃来给军车加装甲？我们为什么不能有现成的设备呢？”

The question drew cheers and applause from fellow soldiers and criticism, including from lawmakers on Capitol Hill, over the way Secretary Rumsfeld responded. "It's a matter of production and capability of doing it. As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time," he said.

他的提问引起现场战友的喝采和鼓掌。而拉姆斯菲尔德部长的回答方式则遭致了批评，一些国会议员也对他的回答表示不满。当时，拉姆斯菲尔德是这样说的：“这 是生产和生产能力的问题。你也知道，你是以你现有的军队，而不是你将来可能想要有的军队投入战争。”

Secretary Rumsfeld said he expects the army to do its best to provide the badly needed armor to protect against the insurgency, the strength of which he admits was underestimated.

拉姆斯菲尔德说，他预计美国陆军会尽最大可能向部队提供急需的装甲防护，为频繁遭到反叛分子袭击的军人提供保护。他承认过低估计了反叛分子的实力。

At the White House President Bush told reporters the concerns of soldiers heading into battle are being addressed. "We expect our troops to have the best possible equipment. And if I were a soldier overseas wanting to defend my country, I would want to ask the Secretary of Defense the same question," he said.

在白宫，布什总统对记者说，那些即将奔赴伊拉克战场的军人的顾虑正在得到解决： 我们认为我们的部队应该有最好的装备。而如果我是一名驻扎在海外、希望保卫国 家的军人，我也想向国防部长提同样的问题。”

But critics of the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war see the shortage of armored vehicles as an indication that the Pentagon failed to plan adequately for the aftermath of the fall of Saddam Hussein.

但是，那些对布什政府对伊拉克战争处理方式持批评态度的人认为，装甲车辆的缺乏显示出五角大楼没有能够为萨达姆政权垮台后的战后局势做好充份计划。