QUESTION:You are around my father’s age and like my father. Would you tell me here honestly, like talking to your own children, that you never lied on the Iraq war?

　　PRIME MINISTER:What would I say to my children? What I would say to them is this, that in the end as a political leader you have got to take the decisions that you think are right, and those decisions are sometimes very, very difficult. But I believe passionately in relation to Iraq, we could not allow Saddam Hussein to carry on developing weapons of mass destruction3 , and don’t be in any doubt that he was doing it, because we had 23 different United Nations resolutions about the very issue of Saddam and weapons of mass destruction. So please don ’t anyone here think this is something that suddenly was dreamed up by the Americans or the British , it was there , it was a serious issue . That is why the United Nations inspectors were in Iraq throughout the 1990s. They were then forced to leave at the end of 1998, it was why they went back in November after the United Nations resolution. So I don’t have any doubt about the threat that he posed, and I don’t have any doubt either about the danger of that threat in the hands of a man like Saddam. It is difficult for people here just to appreciate4 this, but out of a country of 23 million, 4 million of its people were in exile —4 million of them were in exile . Literally5 tens of thousands of children used to die of malnutrition every single year, of preventable diseases, because of the way he ran the country. And to allow someone like that to carry on being a security threat to the world I thought was the wrong thing, so I took the action that I did. Now there will be people here , and I totally understand it, who disagree with that decision, and the difficult thing about being a political leader is that in the end you have to take the decisions that you believe are right and stand by them. I took the decision I thought was right and I stick by it. And that is what I would say to my children or anybody else’s children.

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　　閱讀練習題：

　?、? Matching:

　　1. prime minister A. homeless

　　2. alliance B. agreement

　　3. protocol C. decision

　　4. resolution D. premier

　　5. appreciate E. union

　　6. in exile F. understand

　　Ⅱ. Questions :

　　1. Who is the head of Iraq ?

　　2. How many resolutions UN passed to forbid Saddam Hussein to carry on developing weapons of mass destruction?

　　3. Why did newspaper cuttings comment that the UK had become the 51st state of the United States?

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　　參考答案：

　?、? 1. D 2. E 3 . B 4 . C 5. F 6 . A

　?、? 1. Saddam Hussein

　　3. That is what is often said by people who oppose Britain’s strong alliance with the United States of America.

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　　參考譯文：

　　布萊爾答清華學子

　　學 生: 幾天前, 在您到美國的訪問時, 有報紙評論說英國是美國的第51 個州, 您是怎么看待這些評論的?

　　布萊爾: 人們經常會用第51 個州之說來反對英國跟美國的強大聯盟。但是我們不能說英美之間就沒有分歧, 有時候我們也會有不同意見,《關于全球氣候變化的京都議定書》就是一個例子。但對于我們與美國的關系, 我感到非常自豪, 我對我們的伙伴關系感到非常自豪。但是我并不認為與美國的良好關系是我們所能具有的惟一的關系?，F在我們面臨的問題是國際恐怖主義, 是掌握在不負責任的人手中的大規模殺傷性武器, 是氣候變化, 是經濟全球化, 是發展貧窮國家的經濟。我覺得應付這些挑戰的方法, 是各國人民的合作。所以我們跟美國有很好的關系,同時我們也是歐盟的一部分。我也愿意與中國發展更緊密的關系, 因為我覺得中國在國際構架下如何發展事關重大。我覺得21 世紀的政治是各個國家為一個共同的議程走到一起。我的意思是, 我們不是按美國制定的議程, 而是按我們共同制定的議程走到一起。所以, 我覺得英國的任務不是去擔心與美國的聯盟, 我覺得我們應該跟美國保持良好的盟友關系, 應該把這種影響擴大開來, 推動美國和其他國家的關系, 制定出大家都能接受的共同議程。中國的領導能夠接受,歐盟、俄羅斯以及像印度這樣的發展中國家也能接受。大家都走到一起, 制定共同的議程, 這是我們努力的方向。因為我覺得這是最有利于人民的, 我堅信這一點。

　　學生: 您大概是我爸爸的年齡, 您像我父親一樣。您能不能像您對您的孩子那樣老實地告訴我, 您在伊拉克戰爭當中沒有撒謊?布萊爾: 我會怎么回答我的孩子? 我想要說的是, 作為一個政治領導人, 你不得不做出你認為正確的決定。有時候要做出這些決定是很困難的, 但我堅信: 有關與伊拉克的關系上, 我們絕不允許薩達姆繼續發展大規模殺傷性武器, 毫無疑問, 他的確在發展大規模殺傷性武器, 因為對此聯合國有二十三個決議。在座的各位可別認為這是英國或者美國虛構的。事實就是如此, 這是很嚴肅的問題。這就是為什么聯合國檢查人員整個20 世紀90 年代都呆在伊拉克, 直到1998 年底被迫離開。但是在聯合國做出決定之后, 他們又回到伊拉克。我毫不懷疑薩達姆所構成的威脅, 我也同樣不懷疑一個像薩達姆這樣的人手中握有這種武器會有危險。中國人可能很難意識到這意味著什么, 但是在伊拉克2300 萬人口中, 有400 萬流落他鄉, 每年有數萬的兒童死于營養不良和可防沿的疾病。所有這些都是因為他的統治所造成的。我認為任由像他這樣的人繼續威脅世界安全是錯誤的, 所以我采取了那樣的行動。會有人不贊同我的決定, 我完全理解。作為一個政治領導人的困難在于你必須做出你認為正確的決定, 而且堅持你的立場。我做出了我認為正確的決定, 我堅持這個立場, 這就是我要對我自己的孩子以及別人的孩子要說的話。