BBC news 2007-09-11 加文本

BBC 2007-09-11


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BBC World News with Jock Mackintosh.

The Senior American General in Iraq David Petraeus has told Congress that the troop “surge” is working and that a military withdrawal could be devastating. But he did say thousands of US troops might leave Iraq by next summer. The US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker told the same Congressman that Iraq could come close to unraveling in 2006 but some improvements were now being seen. From Washington, Jonathan Beale reports.

Even before General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker were given a chance to speak, there was plenty of proof of divided opinion in the committee members' opening remarks. The evidence from General Petraeus would only reinforce those diverging positions. Like President Bush, he claimed progress was being made. The small crumb of comfort for those who opposed to the war is that could be a gradual limited reduction in the number of American troops. "I believe that we will be able to reduce our forces to the pre-surge level of brigade combat teams by next summer without jeopardizing the security gains that we have fought so hard to achieve. The reality was always that America could not maintain the current troop levels beyond the middle of next year because of the strain on the US military.

At least eight American soldiers have died in the latest violence in Iraq. The United States military also said that it had killed twelve al-Qaeda fighters in a raid near Samarra north of Baghdad. The US losses came as the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told Parliament that Iraqi forces were not ready to defend Iraq without American help.

Allies of the former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif say they will continue his campaign against the military government of Pervez Musharraf despite his immediate expulsion on his return from exile. Mr. Sharif was arrested at Islamabad Airport, and then put on a plane to Saudi Arabia. Mr. Sharif's brother Shahbaz Sharif accused the government of treating Pakistani law and public opinion with contempt.

The dictator Musharraf has slapped on the face of the Supreme Court, civil society and the bench and bar. So it's a very serious crisis, and it is not a blow to Nawaz Sharif, it is a blow to the dignity of the people of Pakistan...

Glossary

crumb: small piece or amount
expulsion:action of expelling or being expelled