Rumsfeld Vows Punishment for Troops That Abused Iraqi Prison

 

Alex Belida

Defense¹ Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says Americans will not accept dishonorable behavior, vowing² again that those responsible for the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq will be punished.

Mr. Rumsfeld did not appear bothered by new published charges that he personally authorized³ the harsh treatment of Iraqi detainees, as he spoke⁴ Monday at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington. It was his first public address since his surprise, lightning visit to Baghdad last week.

During that trip, Mr. Rumsfeld toured the notorious Abu Ghraib prison, where a small group of U.S. soldiers is accused of abusing Iraqi detainees, including acts of sexual humiliation⁵.

But since then, new published reports have emerged alleging⁶ senior officials may also have been involved. The "New Yorker" magazine, for example, claimed Mr. Rumsfeld approved the use of sexual humiliation and physical coercion⁷ in prisoner interrogations.

An aide to the Defense Secretary has dismissed that claim and Mr. Rumsfeld did not mention it in his Heritage Foundation address. Instead, Mr. Rumsfeld again called the scandal a body blow and insisted top Pentagon leaders were appalled⁹ by the now highly-publicized abuse photos. "As we saw some of those pictures in the Pentagon and looked at each other's faces, you could feel the shock that we felt and disappointment that some in our country's uniform could sully by that behavior," he said.

Mr. Rumsfeld went on to say those responsible will be held accountable. He said the scandal was uncovered by the military and revealed by the military, providing an important lesson. "The world will see that Americans will not accept dishonorable behavior," he said.

Other new articles, in the New York Times newspaper and Newsweek magazine, claim so-called "high-value" detainees like ousted¹¹ Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein have also faced harsh treatment.

But in Baghdad, U.S. military spokesman, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, denied that was the case. "All our investigations¹² at this point have indicated that there was no abuse, no harassment¹³ conducted with the high-value detainees," he said.

General Kimmitt also revealed Monday that U.S. forces have for the first time discovered an artillery¹⁴ shell containing the deadly nerve agent, Sarin.

But in Washington, top officials including Mr. Rumsfeld urged caution, noting field tests are often not perfect. "What we ought to do is to get the samples some place where they can be tested very carefully before coming to a conclusion as to precisely¹⁵ what it was," he said.

If confirmed, the discovery would mark the first time a significant weapon of mass destruction has been found since the Iraq war began last year, a war largely launched because of the alleged¹⁶ existence of such weapons.

The shell found in recent days in Baghdad had actually been rigged as an improvised¹⁸ explosive device like those routinely planted to kill coalition¹⁹ troops. It detonated but dispersed²¹ only a tiny amount of nerve gas.

注释：
Defense Secretary 国防部长
scandal [5skAndl] n. 丑行，丑闻
detainee [7di:tei5ni:] n. 被拘留者
Heritage Foundation  遗产基金会
notorious [nEu5tC:riEs] adj. 声名狼籍的
sexual humiliation  性侮辱
coercion [kEu5E:FEn] n. 强迫，威压
interrogations [in7terE5^eiFEn] n. 审问
appall⁸ [E5pC:l] vt. 使惊骇
sully [5sQli] v. 玷污
accountable [E5kauntEbl] adj. 应负责的，有责任的
reveal [ri5vi:l] vt. 显示，揭示
oust¹⁰ [aust] vt. 驱逐
harsh [hB:F] adj. 残酷的，苛刻的
harassment [5hArEsmEnt] n. 折磨
artillery shell 炮弹
nerve agent 神经性毒剂
caution [5kC:FEn] n. 小心，谨慎
weapon of mass destruction 大规模杀伤性武器
alleged [E5ledVd] adj. 声称的，所谓的
rig [ri^] v. 装配
improvise¹⁷ [5imprEvaiz] v. 临时准备
routinely adv. 例行公事地
detonate [5detEuneit] v. 引爆
disperse²⁰ [dis5pE:s] v. 分散，散开

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 vowing   

起誓，发誓（vow的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild its collapsed bridge. 布什总统承诺将帮助明尼阿波利斯重建坍塌的大桥。
• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild this collapse bridge. 布什总统发誓要帮助明尼阿波利斯重建起这座坍塌的桥梁。

3 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 humiliation   

n.羞辱

参考例句：

• He suffered the humiliation of being forced to ask for his cards.他蒙受了被迫要求辞职的羞辱。
• He will wish to revenge his humiliation in last Season's Final.他会为在上个季度的决赛中所受的耻辱而报复的。

6 alleging   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• His reputation was blemished by a newspaper article alleging he'd evaded his taxes. 由于报上一篇文章声称他曾逃税，他的名誉受到损害。
• This our Peeress declined as unnecessary, alleging that her cousin Thornhill's recommendation would be sufficient. 那位贵人不肯，还说不必，只要有她老表唐希尔保荐就够了。

7 coercion   

n.强制，高压统治

参考例句：

• Neither trickery nor coercion is used to secure confessions.既不诱供也不逼供。
• He paid the money under coercion.他被迫付钱。

8 appall   

vt.使惊骇，使大吃一惊

参考例句：

• They were appalled by the reports of the nuclear war.他们被核战争的报道吓坏了。
• The enemy was appalled at our attack.敌人被我们的进攻吓得魂飞丧胆。

9 appalled   

v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• They were appalled by the reports of the nuclear war. 他们被核战争的报道吓坏了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 oust   

vt.剥夺，取代，驱逐

参考例句：

• The committee wanted to oust him from the union.委员会想把他从工会中驱逐出去。
• The leaders have been ousted from power by nationalists.这些领导人被民族主义者赶下了台。

11 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

12 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

13 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

14 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

15 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

16 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

17 improvise   

v.即兴创作；临时准备，临时凑成

参考例句：

• If an actor forgets his words，he has to improvise.演员要是忘记台词，那就只好即兴现编。
• As we've not got the proper materials,we'll just have to improvise.我们没有弄到合适的材料，只好临时凑合了。

18 improvised   

a.即席而作的,即兴的

参考例句：

• He improvised a song about the football team's victory. 他即席创作了一首足球队胜利之歌。
• We improvised a tent out of two blankets and some long poles. 我们用两条毛毯和几根长竿搭成一个临时帐蓬。

19 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

20 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。

21 dispersed   

adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的

参考例句：

• The clouds dispersed themselves. 云散了。
• After school the children dispersed to their homes. 放学后，孩子们四散回家了。