VOA标准英语2008年-Former US Attorney General Tells Congress Water

Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft testified before a congressional panel Thursday about controversial interrogation techniques, including one known as water boarding, carried out by the CIA on key al-Qaida suspects. VOA's Dan Robinson reports from Capitol Hill.
　
John Ashcroft, 17 Jul 2008

Ashcroft prefaced his remarks by noting the difficult atmosphere in which U.S. officials were operating in the months after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The Bush administration's overriding¹ goal, said Ashcroft, one he fully² embraced, was to do everything within its power, and within the limits of the law, to keep Americans safe.

"As this Congress and the nation now turn to re-evaluate the work that was done, with the altered perception of seven years of safety, we would all do well to remember the dangers that we faced, and the dangers we still face, and the potentially-catastrophic consequences of error," he said.

Lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee questioned Ashcroft about water boarding, which simulates drowning and which is widely considered to be a form of torture.

Ashcroft said he has no reason to question assertions by former CIA Director George Tenet and others that the value of such enhanced interrogation techniques as they are described by the administration exceeded that of other methods.

Ashcroft says he does not know of any acts of torture committed by U.S. officials, and says Department of Justice evaluations³ determined⁴ that water boarding, as carried out on three occasions by the CIA, did not constitute torture:

"If I received information about water boarding being conducted as the CIA had described it, the experts at the department, who very carefully went over this material, uniformly over the last half dozen years under the law in effect at that time, indicated to me that it was not a violation⁵ of the law," he said.

The former attorney general had this exchange with Democratic Representative Bobby Scott:

SCOTT: "You are not suggesting that we should forgive torture because we got good information and we are therefore safer? That is not your position."

ASHCROFT: "No that is not my position."

SCOTT: "Is it a defense⁶ against torture that traditional techniques were not working?"

ASHCROFT: "Not to my knowledge."

SCOTT: "Is it an exemption⁷ from the criminal law on torture that a DOJ [Department of Justice] or an OLC [Office Legal Counsel] wrote a memo⁸ that said what people generally perceive to be torture is OK?"

ASHCROFT: "I think the ultimate definition of torture will be rendered in the courts."

Several times during the hearing, Ashcroft declined to confirm his presence at high-level White House meetings in which media reports have said interrogation techniques were discussed in detail.

After initially⁹ approving two key Department of Justice memos¹⁰ in 2002 and 2003, Ashcroft said he had no difficulty making a later decision to withdraw both after hearing concerns expressed about the legal reasoning they contained.

These memos were later described in a book by Jack¹¹ Goldsmith, a former head of the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel, as "deeply flawed: sloppily¹² reasoned, overbroad, and incautious in asserting extraordinary constitutional authorities on behalf of the President."

Walter Dellinger, a former U.S. assistant attorney general and solicitor¹³ general, appeared with Ashcroft at the hearing. "The 2002 and 2003 memoranda¹⁴, would say whatever the Congress of the U.S. decided¹⁵ ought to be the law, the president can simply disregard. It is a breathtaking claim that the president can simply disregard whatever conclusion the Congress reached, enacted¹⁶ into law, and moreover the president could decided to keep that secret from the Congress and the American people," he said.

The Bush administration has maintained that water boarding as used by the CIA against three top al-Qaida detainees, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri was legal. The practice was halted in 2006.

As for current U.S. law regarding torture, and its impact on detainees, lawmakers heard this assessment¹⁷ from Ben Wittes of the Brookings Institution:

"Current law articulates flat bans on vaguely¹⁸ defined categories of abuse, torture and cruel and inhuman¹⁹ degrading treatment. These amount in practice to absolute injunctions not to do anything too mean, but leave far too open the question both of what meanness is and the additional question of how much of it is too much," he said.

The House Judiciary Committee hearing was the fifth to examine U.S. interrogation techniques, although other committees have also focused on the issue.

　

 

1 overriding   

a.最主要的

参考例句：

• Development is of overriding importance. 发展是硬道理
• My overriding concern is to raise the standards of state education. 我最关心的是提高国民教育水平。

2 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。

3 evaluations   

估价( evaluation的名词复数 )； 赋值； 估计价值； [医学]诊断

参考例句：

• In fact, our moral evaluations are merely expressions of our desires. 事实上，我们的道德评价只是我们欲望的表达形式。 来自哲学部分
• Properly speaking, however, these evaluations and insights are not within the concept of official notice. 但准确地讲，这些评估和深远见识并未包括在官方通知概念里。

4 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

5 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

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 exemption   

n.豁免，免税额，免除

参考例句：

• You may be able to apply for exemption from local taxes.你可能符合资格申请免除地方税。
• These goods are subject to exemption from tax.这些货物可以免税。

8 memo   

n.照会，备忘录；便笺；通知书；规章

参考例句：

• Do you want me to send the memo out?您要我把这份备忘录分发出去吗？
• Can you type a memo for me?您能帮我打一份备忘录吗？

9 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

10 memos   

n.备忘录( memo的名词复数 )；（美）内部通知

参考例句：

• Big shots get their dander up and memos start flying. 大人物们怒火中烧，备忘录四下乱飞。 来自辞典例句
• There was a pile of mail, memos and telephone messages on his desk. 他的办公桌上堆满着信件、备忘录和电话通知。 来自辞典例句

11 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

12 sloppily   

adv.马虎地，草率地

参考例句：

• Do things neatly, not sloppily. 办事要利落，不要拖泥带水。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Land market after behind-the-scenes plotting concern: how much land can act sloppily? 关注土地市场重重黑幕：有多少土地可以胡来？ 来自互联网

13 solicitor   

n.初级律师，事务律师

参考例句：

• The solicitor's advice gave me food for thought.律师的指点值得我深思。
• The solicitor moved for an adjournment of the case.律师请求将这个案件的诉讼延期。

14 memoranda   

n. 备忘录, 便条 名词memorandum的复数形式

参考例句：

• There were memoranda, minutes of meetings, officialflies, notes of verbal di scussions. 有备忘录，会议记录，官方档案，口头讨论的手记。
• Now it was difficult to get him to address memoranda. 而现在，要他批阅备忘录都很困难。

15 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

16 enacted   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
• Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

17 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？

18 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

19 inhuman   

adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的

参考例句：

• We must unite the workers in fighting against inhuman conditions.我们必须使工人们团结起来反对那些难以忍受的工作条件。
• It was inhuman to refuse him permission to see his wife.不容许他去看自己的妻子是太不近人情了。