首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Rise of an "Iraq Generation" in Europe While the media publicize photographs of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib (阿布格莱布监狱) as ev
Rise of an "Iraq Generation" in Europe While the media publicize photographs of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib (阿布格莱布监狱) as ev
admin
2010-07-24
35
问题
Rise of an "Iraq Generation" in Europe
While the media publicize photographs of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib (阿布格莱布监狱) as evidence of US iniquity, her friends are expressing disbelief and disappointment. They are also wondering how far the images may loosen Washington’s grip on its claim to global moral leadership.
In the short term, European public disgust at the pictures probably rules out any chance that America’s NATO allies will offer military help securing the transition to Iraqi rule in Baghdad. In the long run, some observers worry, the photographs could perpetuate a graver transatlantic rift.
"They might help create an ’Iraq Generation’ in Europe like the ’Vietnam Generation’", suggests Bernhard May, an expert on European relations with the US at the influential German Foreign Policy Society in Berlin. "If a whole generation comes to think of America in terms of the Iraq war, then we are in trouble for years to come."
The best way for the US to salvage the situation, European analysts tend to agree, is to hand over as much responsibility for Iraq as possible to the United Nations, so as to give international legitimacy to the authorities there. "We need to move to bring the UN center stage much more urgently, and make sure that the Security Council has true political authority over events in Iraq," argues Paul Wilkinson, professor of International Relations at St. Andrews University in Scotland.
The prison photographs have so inflamed Iraqi and Arab opinion, however, that the UN’s task of anointing a transitional Iraqi government is now even more complicated. "A solution has to be found [to the problems in Iraq] but it has been made immeasurably more difficult by the revelations about prisoner mistreatment," says Lord Carrington, a former British foreign secretary.
The damage in Europe, however, is to America’s reputation and leadership, particularly galling to supporters of the war such as French author Pascal Bruckner, who bucked the French intellectual trend a year ago. "America… is squandering a moral credit that was already eroded," Mr. Bruekner stated recently. "Whatever she does she has lost the image battle, and her current leaders will have achieved the exploit of making America hateful to the whole world, including her own friends, allies, and neighbors. “
What the Polls Say
Not that the current US administration was very popular in the first place among European citizens, resentful of what they see as Washington’s arrogance in world affairs. A poll published in June by the Pew Foundation found that President Bush’s approval ratings were 39 percent in Britain (the highest of the seven countries surveyed) , 15 percent in France, and 14 percent in Germany.
The Abu Ghraib photographs emerged following several difficult weeks for the US-led occupation forces in Iraq, when a lot seemed to be going wrong for them, including a Shiite uprising and sustained resistance in Fallujah (费卢杰,地名) . Those events appeared to comfort most Europeans in their conviction that the war was wrong in the first place. "Acting on a false pretext--the famous weapons of mass destruction--without United Nations’ support… [the Americans] owed it to themselves to be irreproachable in their handling of the war and its aftermath," Bruckner argued.
By falling short of that standard, the US authorities may have triggered repercussions that will be felt for many years, some analysts fear. "The photographs show how far we have to go in winning the battle of ideas as part of the fight against terrorism," says Professor Wilkinson. "1 am worried about the low priority given to human rights and the rule of law in the strategy against A1 Qaeda. If we don’t win the hearts and minds of young Muslims we are creating a production line of new suicide bombers."
In Europe, meanwhile, the pictures reinforce negative stereotypes of America that are common among young people, says Dr. May. "Kids are telling their teachers they always said America followed double standards, and here is the proof," he explains. "They see this as evidence of what they believed all along that America is using force in the wrong way, that it doesn’t respect its own value system, that it simply pursuing its own interests. ’
US officials’ insistence that only a few were responsible for the prisoner abuse is not generally believed. European newspapers have given wide publicity to the report of the Committee of the International Red Cross that such mistreatment was systematic in parts of Abu Ghraib.
In Poland, whose government and people are perhaps the most wholeheartedly pro-American on the Continent, "many people believed America represented the morally correct cause in the conflict," says Janusz Reiter, head of the Center for International Relations in Warsaw. "Now they have very severe doubts."
"This case has damaged America’s moral credibility, and undermined Poles’ trust in the US as the political leader of the world". Mr. Reiter worries, "But it is not irreparable."
Signs of Change
Signs that Washington may be seeking to make amends with its European allies have begun to sprout: the coalition has already given the UN the lead role in establishing Iraq’s transitional government, due to take power on June 30, for example.
Washington is also believed to have signed on to a French plan for a conference involving Iraq’s neighbors, to draw them into reconstruction efforts, even though two of those neighbors are Iran, an so-called "axis of evil" member, and Syria, against which Mr. Bush imposed a trade embargo lately for allegedly supporting terrorism.
At the same time, the US State Department’s policy planning chief, Mitchell Reiss, has been making soothing noises at public appearances in Europe. In a speech in Berlin, for instance, be talked at length about the need for transatlantic cooperation and dialogue. "The speech had everything we wanted to bear, things we had not heard for two years," says May, who heard Reiss speak.
In the wake of Spain’s troop withdrawal, however, Washington is facing an uphill struggle to convince other allies to keep their soldiers in Iraq, and its hopes of persuading new contributors to join the effort appear to have dropped to zero.
US officials had hoped to persuade NATO to take a formal role in Iraq after the transition to Iraqi rule, but no such decision is expected now at the coming alliance summit in Istanbul.
With European mistrust of the US administration running so high, "the last thing the Europeans want to do is come to the alliance summit and allow George W. Bush to preside over the alliance as a great leader," said Philip Gordon, a Brookings Institute scholar and coauthor of a new book on the transatlantic rift over Iraq, in a recent speech to the Transatlantic Center, a Brussels think tank.
The Abu Ghraib scandal "is a major blow to European support for action in Iraq to help the Americans," says May. "It is a disaster for Iraq, a disaster for America, and a disaster for transatlantic relations. It makes life a lot harder for America’s friends in Europe. "
America’s NATO allies will still offer military help to US in Iraq.
选项
A、Y
B、N
C、NG
答案
B
解析
根据题干中的信息词NATO allies和military help定位到第二段第一句话“European public disgust at the pictures probably rules out any chance that America’s NATO allies will offer military help securing the transition to Iraqi rule in Baghdad(欧洲公众对这些照片的厌恶或许会排除美国的北约盟友向美国提供军事帮助以确保巴格达的伊拉克权利顺利移交的可能性) ”,而题干意思是美国的北约盟友将会继续对驻伊拉克的美军提供军事帮助,明显与原文不符,所以本题错误。
转载请注明原文地址:https://www.kaotiyun.com/show/vRN7777K
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
Itiscommonforolderpeopletoforgetthings.NowanAmericanstudyhasfoundthatmemorystartstofailwhenweareyoungadu
ManystudentswanttofindfriendsontheInternetasawayofpracticingtheirlanguage【C1】______andlearningmoreaboutnewcu
ManystudentswanttofindfriendsontheInternetasawayofpracticingtheirlanguage【C1】______andlearningmoreaboutnewcu
Automobileswerefamiliartopeopleofthelate19thcentury.Europeanengineerspioneeredgasolinepoweredvehiclesas【B1】_____
Automobileswerefamiliartopeopleofthelate19thcentury.Europeanengineerspioneeredgasolinepoweredvehiclesas【B1】_____
Weak-eyesightisatermthatgenerallyisusedtorefertonear-sightedeyes.Peoplewhoarenear-sightedcanseegoodat
Britishuniversities,groaning(抱怨)undertheburdenofahugeincreaseinstudentnumbers,arewarningthatthetraditionofafl
Britishuniversities,groaning(抱怨)undertheburdenofahugeincreaseinstudentnumbers,arewarningthatthetraditionofafl
A、Getupearlytotakeinfreshair.B、Doexerciseseveryday.C、Gotodoctorsforexaminationregularly.D、Strengthenourmuscl
Darwin’sgreatwork,theoriginofSpecies,isnowgenerallyacceptedasoneofthemostimportantbookseverwritten.Butwhen
随机试题
下列说法中正确的是【】
记账凭证账务处理程序因为不存在编制科目汇总表或汇总记账凭证的程序,故对于业务量小的企业而言,最为适用。()
在参观游览服务环节,地陪讲明游览路线、所需时间、集合时间和地点等应在()。
根据调查报告的作用和内容,可将其分为()
病例:患者,女,25岁。右足癣并感染1周,2天前开始出现右小腿有片状红疹,颜色鲜红,中间较淡,边缘清楚,右腹股沟淋巴结肿大。治疗的重要环节是()。
变量按其取值的连续性可分为_______和_______两种。
下列有关文学常识的表述,不正确的一项是:
设窗体上有一个名称为List1的列表框,其中有若干列表项,并有下面的事件过程:PrivateSubList1_DblClick()Fori=0ToList1.ListCount-2k=iForj=kTo
在C++中,用于实现运行时多态性的是()。
在一个非零无符号二进制整数之后添加一个0,则此数的值为原数的()。
最新回复
(
0
)