Army Study of Iraq War Details a 'Morass' of

Army Study of Iraq War Details a 'Morass' of Supply Shortages

by Eric Schmitt

陆军研究伊拉克战争的供应短缺

The first official Army history of the Iraq war reveals that American forces were plagued by a "morass" of supply shortages, radios that could not reach far-flung troops, disappointing

psychological operations and virtually no reliable intelligence on how Saddam Hussein would defend Baghdad.

Plague v. 困扰；折磨

far-flung ['fɑ:'fl ] adj. 遥远的；广泛的；广布的

Logistics problems, which senior Army officials played down at the time, were much worse than have previously been reported. While the study serves mainly as a technical examination of how the Army performed and the problems it faced, it could also serve as a political document that could advance the Army's interests within the Pentagon.

logistics [l 'd st ks] n. [军] 后勤；后勤学; 物流

play down V. 贬低；降低；减少

Tank engines sat on warehouse shelves in Kuwait with no truck drivers to take them north.

Broken-down trucks were scavenged for usable parts. Artillery units cannibalized parts from

captured Iraqi guns to keep their howitzers operating. Army medics foraged medical supplies from combat hospitals.

scavenge ['skæv nd ]

vt. 打扫；排除废气；以…为食

vi. 清除污物；打扫

artillery [a 'tl r ]

n. 火炮；大炮；炮队；炮术

cannibalize ['kænb laz]

vt. 拆用…的配件；调拨…的人员

vi. 调拨人员；拆用配件；同类相食

howitzer ['ha ts ]

n. [军] 榴弹炮

medics

n. 医学工作者；苜蓿（medic的复数）

forage ['f r d ]

n. 饲料；草料；搜索

vi. 搜寻粮草；搜寻

In most cases, soldiers improvised solutions to keep the offensive rolling. But the study found that the Third Infantry Division, the Army's lead combat force, was within two weeks of being halted by a lack of spare parts, and Army logisticians had no effective distribution system.

improvise ['impr vaiz] v. 即兴创作,临时提供

the Third Infantry Division 第三步兵师

logistician [,l ud i'sti n] n. 物流师；军需官；后勤人员

"The morass of problems that confounded delivering parts and supplies - running the gamut of paper clips to tank engines - stems from the lack of a means to assign responsibility clearly," the study said.

confound [k n'fa nd]

vt. 使混淆；挫败；讨厌；使混乱

run the gamut of 及…的全部范围

stem from 源于

It also found that the Pentagon's decision to send mostly combat units in the weeks before the invasion had the "unintended consequence" of holding back support troops until much later, contributing greatly to the logistics problems.

hold back ['h uldbæk] 隐瞒；退缩；抑制；阻止

back support 后勤支持

The findings are contained in a 504-page internal Army history of the war written by the Army's Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. The unclassified study, a draft of which was obtained by The New York Times, was ordered last spring by the former Army chief of staff, Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, who clashed with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld over troop strength for postwar Iraq. It draws on interviews with 2,300 people, 68,000 photographs and nearly 120,000 documents.

unclassified

英 [ n'klæs fa d] 美 [ n'klæs 'fa d]

adj. 不保密的；无类别的

the former Army chief of staff前陆军参谋长

troop strength 兵力 draw on

利用；吸收；戴上；临近

Its senior author was Gregory Fontenot, a retired Army colonel who commanded a battalion in the Persian Gulf war in 1991 and a brigade in Bosnia.

The Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy are all conducting similar reviews of their forces'

performance.

Army colonel 陆军上校

the Persian Gulf war 波斯湾战争

August 1990, Iraqi troops invade Kuwait, sparking the Persian Gulf War.

Army officials said the timing of the study was not intended to influence passage of a proposed military budget the Bush administration submitted to Congress on Monday. But it could fuel a

debate on Capitol Hill over whether the military, and the Army in particular, has enough troops to carry out missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and other trouble spots.

timing ['ta m ]

n. 定时；调速；时间选择

v. 为…安排时间；测定…的时间（time的ing形式）

military budget 军事预算

trouble spot n. 动荡地区；出故障处

Senior Army officials say lessons from the study - from revamping how soldiers are deployed to overhauling battlefield supply-distribution networks - are being incorporated into Army training centers and among the 110,000 troops now replacing 130,000 soldiers in Iraq.

revamp [,ri'væmp]

vt. 修补；翻新；修改

n. 改进；换新鞋面

incorporate into 并入

The bulk of the study, a book entitled "On Point," is a lucid narrative devoted largely to detailed accounts of several pivotal battles. For the most part, it praises the Army's combat operations and the ability of soldiers and commanders to adapt to rapidly shifting battlefield conditions.

bulk of大部分，多数 lucid ['lus d]

adj. 明晰的；透明的；易懂的；头脑清楚的 narrative ['nær t v]

n. 叙述；故事；讲述

adj. 叙事的，叙述的；叙事体的

the Army's combat operations军队的作战行动

for the most part 很大程度上

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