2007年VOA标准英语-Bush Backs Iraqi Leader in Speech to US Veteran

By Scott Stearns
White House
22 August 2007

U.S. President George Bush says he supports Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The president's statement came in a speech Wednesday that followed calls by a U.S. senator for replacing the government in Baghdad. VOA White House correspondent Scott Stearns reports, the president is hoping to restore public support for the war in Iraq by comparing that fight to past American intervention¹ in East Asia.

President Bush before a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention, in Kansas City, 22 Aug 2007

President Bush says many people are frustrated² by the slow pace of political progress in Iraq, and he understands that.

But he is rejecting criticism from the Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin, who says Iraq's parliament should remove the Maliki government because it has "totally and utterly⁴ failed."

"Prime Minister Maliki is a good guy, a good man, with a difficult job. And I support him. And it is not up to the politicians in Washington, D.C. to say whether he will remain in his position. That is up to the Iraqi people who now live in a democracy and not a dictatorship," said Mr. Bush.

From left: Senators John Warner and Carl Levin meeting with Iraq's President Jalal Talabani in Baghdad, 18 Aug 2007

Following a visit to Iraq this week, Senator Levin said the Maliki government cannot achieve a political settlement because it is too bound by its own sectarian prejudices.

Speaking Wednesday, at the close of a three-day visit to Syria, Prime Minister Maliki told reporters that no one has the authority to impose a timetable on the Iraqi government as its power emanates⁵ from the Iraqi people and only they can decide its fate. He accused U.S. politicians of making irresponsible statements and criticisms that he said lacked courtesy.

vice3 President Farouk al-Sharaa,left, and Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki in Damascus, 21 Aug 2007" hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070831/1040222.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa,left, and Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki in Damascus, 21 Aug 2007

President Bush had given a less-than-ringing endorsement⁶ of the prime minister Tuesday, saying that if the Iraqi government does not respond to the demands of the people, they will replace it. White House officials say the president was just "reporting the facts" and sought to clarify those remarks in his speech Wednesday.

In his latest comments, Mr. Bush compared Iraq to previous U.S. battles in Asia, saying the ideals that led America to help establish democracy in post-World War II Japan are the same ones that keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The president also compaired critics of his Iraq policy with skeptics of U.S. intervention on the Korean peninsula, saying that back then, as now, some argued that the war was futile⁷ and troops should come home.

"The defense⁸ strategy that refused to hand the South Koreans over to a totalitarian neighbor helped raise up an Asian Tiger that is a model for developing countries across the world, including the Middle East," he said. "And the fruit of American sacrifice and perseverance⁹ in Asia is a freer, more prosperous, and stable continent - whose people want to live in peace with America - not attack America."

Opposition¹⁰ Democrats¹¹ say the president is wrong to compare Iraq with past conflicts in Asia because he is ignoring fundamental differences.

In a written statement, Senate Majority Leader Harry¹² Reid said the Bush administration misled the American people into the war under the false pretense¹³ of weapons of mass destruction, leading to what Reid calls "one of the worst foreign policy blunders in our history."

The president says there are certainly differences between the last century's fighting in East Asia and the current battle against terrorism. But he says at their core, they are all struggles of ideology¹⁴.

"The militarists of Japan and the Communists in Korea and Vietnam were driven by a merciless vision for the proper ordering of humanity," said Mr. Bush. "They killed Americans because we stood in the way of their attempt to force their ideology on others. Today, the names and places have changed, but the fundamental character of the struggle has not changed."

The president is hoping to rebuild public support for the war ahead of a report to Congress next month. The U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, and the top U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, will report on the impact of the president's January decision to send more troops to Iraq.

1 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

2 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

4 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

5 emanates   

v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的第三人称单数 )；产生，表现，显示

参考例句：

• He emanates power and confidence. 他表现出力量和信心。
• He emanates sympathy. 他流露出同情。 来自辞典例句

6 endorsement   

n.背书；赞成，认可，担保；签(注)，批注

参考例句：

• We are happy to give the product our full endorsement.我们很高兴给予该产品完全的认可。
• His presidential campaign won endorsement from several celebrities.他参加总统竞选得到一些社会名流的支持。

7 futile   

adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的

参考例句：

• They were killed,to the last man,in a futile attack.因为进攻失败，他们全部被杀，无一幸免。
• Their efforts to revive him were futile.他们对他抢救无效。

8 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。

9 perseverance   

n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠

参考例句：

• It may take some perseverance to find the right people.要找到合适的人也许需要有点锲而不舍的精神。
• Perseverance leads to success.有恒心就能胜利。

10 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

11 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》

12 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

13 pretense   

n.矫饰，做作，借口

参考例句：

• You can't keep up the pretense any longer.你无法继续伪装下去了。
• Pretense invariably impresses only the pretender.弄虚作假欺骗不了真正的行家。

14 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。