2006年VOA标准英语-Iraqi Prime Minister Vows to Defeat Insurgency

By Dan Robinson
Capitol Hill
26 July 2006

Addressing Congress, the Iraqi prime minister has described the war against terrorism as a conflict between genuine Islam and extremists seeking to undermine it. VOA's Dan Robinson reports from Capitol Hill, where Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Iraqis have gone from dictatorship, mass graves and torture chambers² to a young democracy with respect for human rights.

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Nouri al-Maliki addresses US Congress, July 26, 2006   
  
Now that Iraqis have seen freedom, Prime Minister Maliki said, they are willing to defend it absolutely against those who would attempt to destroy it.

Declaring liberty and freedom universal ideals for humanity, he said Iraqis demonstrated repeatedly by turning out for elections that they will always choose democracy.

Those fighting his government, he added, seek to use Islam for their own purposes, and he sought to reassure³ American lawmakers about his government's commitment to the fight.

"I know that some of you here question whether Iraq is part of the war on terror," he said. "Let me be very clear. This is a battle between true Islam, for which a person's liberty and rights constitute essential cornerstones, and terrorism which wraps itself in a fake Islamic cloak, in reality, wages a war on Islam and Muslims and values."

Mr. Maliki repeated both his determination to disband militias⁴, and an offer of reconciliation⁵ to groups, "willing to accept the logic⁶ of dialogue and participation⁷."

Multinational⁸ forces, he said, should not leave until the battle against terrorism is won, but he said Iraqis have the will to defeat terrorists who "would never be able to recover."

"But let our enemies not mistake our outstretched hand for forgiveness as a sign of weakness," he said. "Whoever chooses violence against the people of Iraq, then the fate that awaits them will be the same as the terrorist [Abu Musab] al-Zarqawi."

Addressing congressional worries about the slow pace of efforts to rebuild Iraq, Prime Minister Maliki said reconstruction⁹ in volatile¹⁰ areas should fuel economic growth for the rest of Iraq, but he appealed to Congress and other countries for assistance.

Although lawmakers frequently responded to Mr. Maliki with applause, his speech was briefly¹¹ disrupted by a woman wearing a white T-shirt with the words "[U.S.] Troops Home Now."

"Iraqis want the troops to leave, bring them home now. Iraqis want the troops to leave, bring them home now," she said.

Security officials removed the protester from the House chamber¹, but the incident was highly-unusual during an address by a foreign leader to a joint¹² meeting of Congress.

Not mentioned in the Iraqi leader's speech was the controversy¹³ over his recent remark in which he accused Israel of aggression¹⁴ in its conflict with the Hezbollah in Lebanon.

After the address, Democratic senators expressed disappointment, calling general Iraqi government condemnations of terrorism insufficient¹⁵.

On the prime minister's remarks about the military situation in Iraq, Senator Richard Durbin says the address has not dispelled¹⁶ concerns.

"The fact that we now have to increase the number of American soldiers in Baghdad, the area where we have focused more force than any other area part of Iraq, is an indication of instability in that country that continues," he said. "We cannot ignore the fact that what is going on in Iraq today is, if not a civil war, very close to it."

After addressing Congress, the Iraqi prime minister traveled with President Bush and four lawmakers to a U.S. Army base just outside of Washington, where the two leaders met with approximately 200 U.S. military personnel.

1 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

2 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

3 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

4 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

5 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

6 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

7 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

8 multinational   

adj.多国的，多种国籍的；n.多国籍公司，跨国公司

参考例句：

• The firm was taken over by a multinational consulting firm.这家公司被一个跨国咨询公司收购。
• He analyzed the relationship between multinational corporations and under-developed countries.他分析了跨国公司和不发达国家之间的关系。

9 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

10 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

11 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

12 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

13 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

14 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

15 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

16 dispelled   

v.驱散，赶跑( dispel的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His speech dispelled any fears about his health. 他的发言消除了人们对他身体健康的担心。
• The sun soon dispelled the thick fog. 太阳很快驱散了浓雾。 来自《简明英汉词典》