Recently1, a small
remote-controlled aircraft crashed2
on the grounds3 of
the White House -- the official home of the president of the United States.
Experts say there is no good way4
to protect against5
these now widely available devices6
-- often called drones.
The U.S. Secret Service has launched an investigation
of the crash. This was not the first incident of a flying machine on the White
House grounds. In September1994, a pilot crashed a small airplane into the area
known as the South Lawn7.
That event led to8
increased security. But the latest incident calls attention to the increased vulnerability9
of the traditional home of U.S.presidents.
Matthew Waite is a journalism professor at the
University of Nebraska. Mr.Waite says the White House is well protected. But he
warns that10
someone who wants to can still create a lot of problems. In his words, “if
somebody wants to cause harm11
and havoc12 with a
device and some explosives, there is very
little13 to stop them.”
Under the Obama administration, drones are a secretive yet important14
part of United States efforts15
for fighting terrorism overseas16.
Supporters17 say targeted18 drone
attacks keep19
U.S. troops out of harm’s way
while limiting injuries to civilians21.
But some religious leaders say the use of unmanned aircraft22
to attack suspected terrorists is morally wrong. At a recent meeting in New
Jersey, they demanded23
an immediate halt24
to such raids25.
The group of religious leaders first met26 in 2006 after reports about possible mistreatment27 of
prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. That meeting started an influential
movement against28
torture. Now, they are talking about the morality of drone warfare29.
The Reverend George Hunsinger teaches theology at
Princeton Theological Seminary. He calls drone attacks “remote-controlled killing30”.
“It is a video game! You see these soldiers, these
pilots, joking31
in the cockpit, and you see what is on the screen, and you see the crosshairs32 and so on33, and they
are blowing people up34
as they cross the street35,
on a sidewalk36.
On what grounds?”
U.S. officials say drone attacks have killed known37 terrorists in
Afghanistan,Pakistan and Yemen. But human
rights38 groups say civilians are often killed in the
attacks. They say civilian deaths are hard to count because the drone program
is partly39
directed by the Central Intelligence Agency.
During his recent visit to India, President Obama
suggested that drone attacks would continue in areas like Yemen.
“Because the alternative would be massive U.S. deployments40 in perpetuity41 ,which
would create its own blowback42
and cause probably more problems than it would potentially solve.”
Susan Thistleth waite is a former43 president of the Chicago Theological Seminary.
She says that some of the actions taken
by44 the United States are contradictory.
“We have an administration or State Department
conducting one foreign policy45,
and we have the CIA conducting a different and in many ways contradictory
foreign policy!”
“Drones allow46
you to use violence in situations where you would never send in “boots on the ground”47
troops. So that it actually48
expands the theater of war. And you
could make a case now that drones make the
whole world49 a battlefield.”
Mohamed Magid is a Muslim50 religious leader. He was born in Sudan.
He says drone attacks create more terrorists.
The religious leaders are largely opposed to
warfare. But their earlier campaign helped influence Congress to investigate
the conditions at AbuGhraib. In the end, former President George W. Bush banned51 the use of torture.
I’m Jonathan Evans.
This report is based on stories from VOA reporters
George Putic andJerome Socolovsky. Jonathan Evans wrote it for Learning
English. GeorgeGrow was the editor.
_____________________________________
Vocabulary
1.
Recently =
recentemente
2. Crashed = caiu (aeronave)
3. Grounds = terrenos
4.
there is no good way = não há uma boa
maneira
5.
against =
contra
6.
widely available devices = dispositivos
amplamente disponiveis
7.
South Lawn =
gramado sul
8.
led to =
conduziu a
9.
increased
vulnerability = crescente vulnerabilidade
10.
warns that =
alerta que
11. to cause harm = causar danos
12.
havoc =
devastação
13. there is very little = há muito pouco
14. secretive yet important = sigiloso mas importante
15. efforts = esforços
16. overseas = no exterior
17. Supporters = defensores
18. Targeted = dirigido a alvos
19. Keep = manter
20. out of harm’s way = fora de perigo
21. injuries to civilians = ferimentos a civis
22. unmanned aircraft = aviões não tripulados
23. demanded = exigiram
24. halt= suspensão
25. such raids = tais ataques
26.
first met = reuniram-se pela primeira
vez
27.
mistreatment =
mau tratamento
28.
against =
contra
29.
warfare =
Guerra
30. remote-controlled killing = matança por controle
remoto
31. joking = brincando
32. crosshairs = mira
33.
and so on = e assim por diante
34.
blowing people
up = explodindo pessoas
35. cross the street = atravessar a rua
36. sidewalk = calçada
37. known = conhecido
38. human rights = direitos humanos
39. partly = em parte
40. deployments = implantações
41. perpetuity = perpetuamente
42. blowback = resultado inesperado e indesejavel
43. former = ex
44. taken by = tomada por
45.
foreign policy = politica de relações
exteriors
46.
allow =
permitem
47. “boots on the ground” = “botas no chão”, tropas
terrestres
48. Actually = realmente
49. the whole world = o mundo todo
50. Muslim = muçulmano
51. Banned = proibiu
