VOA慢速英语20061209a

IN THE NEWS - From the Iraq Study Group, Bush Gets 79 Proposals for a New 'Way Forward'By Brianna Blake

Broadcast: Saturday, December 09, 2006

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.


President Bush meets with Iraq Study Group

The message was loud and clear: the situation in Iraq is bad and only getting worse. After nine months of work, the Iraq Study Group gave its report this week, calling for major changes in United States policy.

The report says no one can guarantee that any action in Iraq at this point will stop the growing violence. But it gives seventy-nine suggestions for a new way forward in Iraq and the Middle East.

Among them, it calls for an urgent new diplomatic plan that would include talks with Syria and Iran -- and more pressure on Iraqi leaders.

The study group says the main job of United States forces in Iraq should be to support the Iraqi Army. The report calls for an increase in American military trainers from four thousand to about twenty thousand. And it says Iraqi forces need better equipment.

But the report says most American fighting troops could be out of Iraq by early two thousand eight -- unless there are unexpected security developments.

President Bush says all of the proposals will be considered. But he also said he did not think the study group meant for the administration to accept every one of them.

The Bush administration is completing its own study of its Iraq policy. That review involves the State Department, National Security Council, Defense¹ Department and other agencies. The president's national security adviser², Stephen Hadley, has said the plan is to have a new Iraq policy in place within weeks.

The report also calls for a renewed effort by the United States for Arab-Israeli peace. But the prime minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, rejected attempts to link the Iraq issue and the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

The five Democrats³ and five Republicans on the Iraq Study Group all supported the recommendations. The group led by former secretary of state James Baker⁴ and former congressman⁵ Lee Hamilton was created in March. It was launched at a meeting held by Senator John Warner of Virginia and attended by congressional leaders.

Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi said many of the proposals are things her party has suggested for a long time. She will lead the House of Representatives when the new Democratic-controlled Congress opens in January.

More than two thousand nine hundred Americans have died since the Iraq war began in March of two thousand three. The report says the United States has spent roughly four hundred thousand million dollars on the war. And it says estimates for the final cost of the United States involvement in Iraq run as high as two million million dollars.

The report came out Wednesday, the same day the Senate confirmed Robert Gates as the next secretary of defense. He is to be sworn into office on December eighteenth, replacing Donald Rumsfeld who recently resigned.

IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English was written by Brianna Blake. For more news about the Iraq Study Group Report, go to www.unsv.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 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。

2 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。

3 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

5 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。