Pivotal：枢轴的，关键的

12月14日，美国总统布什为退休的四星级陆军上将汤米·弗兰克斯、前中情局局长乔治·特尼特和前美国驻伊拉克首席行政官保罗·布雷默等三人颁发了代表国家最高荣誉的“总统自由勋章”，并称他们是美国对伊政策的坚强后援，“在诸多重大事件中扮演了关键角色，为维护国家安全和推进人类自由事业不遗余力”。外电报道如下：President Bush awarded the nation's highest civilian honor Tuesday to three men central to his Iraq policy, saying they had played "pivotal roles in great events."

Bush presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to retired Gen. Tommy Franks, who oversaw combat in Afghanistan and the initial invasion of Iraq, former CIA Director George Tenet and former Iraq administrator L. Paul Bremer.

Franks is a retired four-star Army general who commanded U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. He didn't decide until last summer to endorse Bush's re-election, but then spoke on the president's behalf at the Republican National Convention and campaigned for Bush through the fall.

Pivotal表示“枢轴的，中枢的，关键的”，例如，美国前国务卿基辛格（Henry A. Kissinger）曾说过这样的话：Its pivotal location has also exposed it to periodic invasions（其地点的重要性也使得它周期性地遭受侵略）。