VOA常速英语2008年-Top US Military Officer: Iraq Withdrawal Pause

By Al Pessin
Pentagon
01 February 2008

The top U.S. military officer says it is possible the United States could pause its withdrawal¹ from Iraq later this year, if commanders there believe it is necessary. But Admiral Mike Mullen says he does not see the need right now. The admiral spoke² to reporters at the Pentagon Friday amid a continuing controversy³ over the pace of the U.S. troop drawdown. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.

The coalition⁴ commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, has said he might want to pause the withdrawals⁵ after the final surge troops leave in July. Defense⁶ Secretary Robert Gates has said he hopes the withdrawals will be able to continue in order to get the U.S. troop level in Iraq down to about 100,000 by the end of the year.

On Friday, the Chairman of the Joint⁷ Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, tried to reconcile the two positions.

"Secretary Gates hasn't changed his position," he said. "He's recently restated that that hope is out there. But the hope is not going to drive the solution set. All of us, including Secretary Gates, are very focused on making these recommendations based on conditions on the ground."

Admiral Mullen also noted⁸ the drawdown is in a pause right now, with about 5,000 U.S. troops having left Iraq in December, and the next group not scheduled to leave until April.

The admiral says he does not see anything happening in Iraq right now that would require another pause in July, and he says General Petraeus has not informed his superiors that he is considering asking for a pause. Admiral Mullen says it is too soon to know what the conditions will be when the surge ends in July, but he believes General Petraeus will be able to make a good assessment⁹ when he testifies before Congress in April.

"I think April is close enough, I mean, we're within reasonable time and distance to July in order to certainly make an assessment," he said. "And if it's an assessment that in fact warrants moving it to the right, then so be it."

In military terminology¹⁰, 'moving it to the right' means delaying something, in this case, the further drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq.

Also on Friday, the chief of staff for coalition ground forces in Iraq gave his assessment of the situation. Just two weeks before the end of a 15-month tour of duty, Brigadier General Joseph Anderson said the question of how fast the United States can reduce its troop presence will be answered in large part by how ready Iraqi forces are to take their place.

"The key piece that's going to allow us to assess, that is going to be the ability of the Iraqi security forces as they expand now upwards¹¹ of over half a million, 550,000, how they hold the ground, which allows us to focus on an overwatch capacity," he said. "I think that's going to be the difference."

General Anderson said another important factor will be progress by the Iraqi government toward defining the powers of the provinces and toward absorbing local citizen forces that have been an important element in the recent security improvements in Iraq.

1 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

2 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。

3 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。

4 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。

5 withdrawals   

n.收回，取回，撤回( withdrawal的名词复数 )；撤退，撤走；收回[取回，撤回，撤退，撤走]的实例；推出（组织），提走（存款），戒除毒瘾，对说过的话收回，孤僻

参考例句：

• He has made several withdrawals from his bank account. 他从银行账户上提了几次款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It is not the bank's policy to deduct interest on withdrawals. 提款需扣除利息这并非是本银行的政策。 来自辞典例句

6 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。

7 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。

8 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

9 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

10 terminology   

n.术语；专有名词

参考例句：

• He particularly criticized the terminology in the document.他特别批评了文件中使用的术语。
• The article uses rather specialized musical terminology.这篇文章用了相当专业的音乐术语。

11 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。