VOA标准英语2008年-Senate Report Says Bush Administration Exaggera

By Deborah Tate
Capitol Hill
05 June 2008

The Democratic-led U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee has released a report that finds the Bush administration ignored disagreements about intelligence information in making its case for war in Iraq. Key Republicans are dismissing the report as politically motivated. VOA's Deborah Tate reports from Capitol Hill.
　

Sen. Jay Rockefeller arrives for a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, 05 Jun 2008

The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, released the report at a news conference Thursday.

"In making the case for war, the administration did go well beyond what the intelligence community knew and what it believed," he said.

The report cites public statements by senior administration officials in the run-up to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq that were not supported by intelligence available at the time. These include comments alleging¹ ties between Saddam Hussein's government and al-Qaida, and a statement about a meeting between one of the September 11, 2001, hijackers and an Iraqi intelligence operative in Prague in 2001.

The report also finds that U.S. officials failed to take into account internal debate in the intelligence community about the threat posed by Iraq. For example, it says that while some intelligence agencies supported the Bush administration argument that Saddam Hussein's government had been seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, other agencies could not substantiate² such claim.

Two Republicans joined majority Democrats³ in backing the report, Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine.

But other Republicans dismissed the findings. Senator Christopher Bond of Missouri is the top Republican on the committee.

"The report released today by the majority is an attempt by my friends on the other side of the aisle⁴ to score election year points," he said.

He argued that many of the Democrats who criticized the administration had themselves issued warnings about the threat posed by Iraq ahead of the war.
　

Dana Perino

At the White House, spokeswoman Dana Perino called the report a "selective view".

"The president and administration officials and the Congress were all working from the same intelligence, and acting⁵ on the same information," she said. "When the intelligence community gives you the information, you have an obligation to look at it. Now, is intelligence always going to by 100 percent right in the future? It can't be. It is just not the nature of the way that works. But I do think that we have improved the process so much that it is unlikely that it could ever happen again."

Committee chairman Rockefeller responded.

"We all relied on flawed intelligence, but there is a fundamental difference between relying on incorrect intelligence and deliberately⁶ painting a picture to the American people that you know is not fully⁷ supported by intelligence," he said.

The report is the fourth and last on Iraq pre-war intelligence to be released by the committee, and echoes previous reports suggesting the administration overstated the threat posed by Iraq.

The committee also released a second report criticizing the Defense⁸ Department for not briefing intelligence officials about meetings with an Iranian dissident beginning in 2001.

The dissident, Manucher Ghorbanifar, had used the meetings to press for a change in government in Iran. The Central Intelligence Agency had viewed Ghorbanifar as untrustworthy.

1 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。

2 substantiate   

v.证实；证明...有根据

参考例句：

• There is little scientific evidence to substantiate the claims.这些主张几乎找不到科学依据来证实。
• These theories are used to substantiate the relationship between the phenomenons of the universe.这些学说是用来证实宇宙现象之间的关系。

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 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

6 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

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。