美国关于伊拉克的进程报告(Us Progress Report on Iraq)

在未来两周，美国驻伊拉克军队的最高指挥官大卫•彼得雷乌斯将军和美国驻巴格达大使瑞安•克罗克将就伊拉克方面的进展情况向布什总统和美国国会做一次重要汇报。他们的任务是评估考察伊拉克政府是否在调解民族矛盾和减少暴力冲突方面取得进展。美国国会之前已为伊拉克政府设置了18个进展指标，并预计伊拉克在9月中旬达到这些指标，只有这样美国国会才会继续支持和资助伊拉克战争。

注释：
1,Headway n. 进展                  2,benchmark n. 基准点
3,subconsciously adv. 下意识地    4,regime n. 政权，政体，政权制度
5,claustrophobic adj. 幽闭恐怖的  6,kidnapper n. 绑匪
7,dejection n. 沮丧                8,quell v. 镇压
9,dubious adj. 可疑的，不确定的

ANNOUNCER: In the next two weeks, General David Petraeus, the senior American military commander in Iraq and Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador to Baghdad are due to present a crucial progress report to President Bush and the US Congress. Their task is to assess whether any headway been made towards national reconciliation and reducing the violence in Iraq. US congress has set out 18 benchmarks which are supposed to be fulfilled by mid-September to ensure continued support and funding for the war. Richard Gulping, who is back in Baghdad for the first time in almost two years, has been assessing the situation there using some benchmarks of his own.
播音员：在未来两周，美国驻伊拉克军队的最高指挥官大卫•彼得雷乌斯将军和美国驻巴格达大使瑞安•克罗克将就伊拉克方面的进展情况向布什总统和美国国会做一次重要汇报。他们的任务是评估考察伊拉克政府是否在调解民族矛盾和减少暴力冲突方面取得进展。美国国会之前已为伊拉克政府设置了18个进展指标，并预计伊拉克在9月中旬达到这些指标，只有这样美国国会才会继续支持和资助伊拉克战争。理查德•高尔平以他自己的标准评估那里的局势，这是他两年内第一次回到巴格达。
RICHARD GULPING: As my plane made the stiff, tactical descent to Baghdad airport, I was thinking about those much debated American benchmarks. I realized that almost subconsciously, I developed my own. Mine not of course deeply, unscientific and highly personal if not slightly eccentric but they help.
理查德•高尔平：当我乘坐的飞机笔直的、技术精湛的降落在巴格达时，我就想到了那些倍受争议的美国指标。我发现原来在我的潜意识里，我早就有了自己的一套标准。当然我的标准并不是很深入，也欠缺科学性，并且带有强烈的个人主义色彩，但是只要不是特殊情况，它们一般都是很准的。

The first is the width of our street. When I first came to Baghdad just after the American troops had matched in four years ago, we lived and worked in a normal street. We walked around freely, even at night, taking just basic security precautions, but this didn’t last long. The American Military founded, not knowing what to do after taking Baghdad because it didn’t have a serious plan for the day after declaring victory. And that the members of the former regime seized the initiative launching a well planned campaign of guerrilla warfare which also attracted Islamic Extremists. So over the next two years, our lives in Baghdad became ever more restricted. Our street was sealed off and guarded, became increasingly narrow as each building had huge concrete block barriers placed in front of it. On my return here three weeks ago, I discovered that our street was even narrower because yet more blast barriers have been brought in. Its now also much shorter cutting half by huge metal gate and everywhere security cameras. Living here is deeply claustrophobic where once we could spend time speaking with top members of the Iraqi Government, we now fear to tread because of the threat of being kidnapped. And that’s because at the end of May, a British consultant and his four British bodyguards were seized by gunmen from inside the Finance Ministry in Baghdad. The fate is still unknown. The incident says so much about the current state of the Iraqi security forces. The kidnappers were all wearing Police uniforms and drove up in police vehicles. Clear evidence of involvement of militia groups within the police force or the very least collusion between the two.
第一个标准是街道的宽度。当我四年前第一次来到巴格达的时候，那时美国军队刚刚进驻伊拉克，我们生活和工作都是在正常的街道上进行的。我们可以自由行走，即使是在晚上，只要具备最基本的防范意识就可以了，但是这种情形并没有持续很久。美国在这里建立军部，但他们却不知道在攻占巴格达以后该做些什么，因为他们没有为胜利后的局面制定一个严格的计划。而且前政府成员抓住了主动权，发起了一场精心策划的游击战，这次战役还吸引了伊斯兰极端主义者的参与。因此在随后的两年时间里，我们在巴格达的生活就变得越来越受限制了。我们的街道被封锁，纳入警戒，由于每个建筑物前面都堆积着巨大的混凝土块障碍物，街道开始变得狭窄。当我三周前重返这里的时候，我发现这里的街道变得更加狭窄了，因为堆积了更多的建筑混凝土块。并且街道现在也变短了很多，一扇大铁门把整条街分成了两半，到处都安装着安全摄像头。这里是过去我们和伊拉克政府高层领导人会谈的地方，而如今住在这里却有一种非常幽闭恐怖的感觉。由于害怕被绑架，我们不敢随便走动。因为在五月末，一名英国顾问和他的四名英国贴身保镖就在巴格达的财政部被持枪者绑架。至今生死未卜。这起事件很能说明当时伊拉克安全武装力量的状态。绑架者都穿着警服，开着警车。这一证据明显说明民兵组织已渗透到警察部门，或者至少他们二者存在相互勾结。

My second benchmark is the face of an Iraqi friend here. Over the past four years, I have seen his face evolve into picture of dejection. But now there seems to be something even worse, despair. He is trying to persuade the members of his own family to move abroad where he knows they will be safe even if it means being apart for years. But this is minor league compared with what our colleague at an international news agency has been through. A few days ago, I attended a wake for two of their Iraqi staff, a photographer and a driver who were killed in Baghdad in July. An American attache helicopter opened fire on them. US military said it was engaged in fire fight with insurgents at the time. In total the agency has now lost 7 staff since the invasion. The photographer was just 22 years old. And in exhibition of some of his most powerful images have been put on display for us to see. Most of his short professional life has been correcting just one thing, the violence tearing apart his own country.

我的第二个标准是一个伊拉克朋友的面容。在过去的四年多的时间里，他的面容逐渐变成一副沮丧的样子。现在似乎变得更糟糕了，变成了绝望。他正尽力的说服他的家人搬到国外，他觉得那里会比较安全，尽管这意味着要离开很多年。但是和我的一个国际新闻通讯社同事的经历相比，这种离别要舒心的多。几天以前，我参加了一个葬礼，这个葬礼是为他在伊拉克工作的两位同事举行的，他们一个是摄影师，一个是司机，今年七月在巴格达遇害。一架美国专属直升机向他们开火。美军称当时他们正在和叛乱者进行激烈的枪战。自从美军入侵以来，通讯社已经损失了七名工作人员。那位摄影师才刚刚22岁，他的一些颇具震撼力的摄影作品已经展出。在他短暂的职业生涯中，大部分时间都是在纠正一个错误，那就是暴力拆散了他的祖国。

And that brings me to my third benchmark, the board in our office. Everyday it's used to compile a list of the shootings, bombings and other violent incidence we hear about around the country. Last week we decided the board was too small, we needed something bigger.
这让我想到了第三个标准，那就是我们办公室的桌子。我们每天都在这张桌上把我们听说的各种枪击、爆炸和暴力冲突事件汇编起来，做成列表。上周我们发现桌子实在太小了，我们需要换一个更大的。

My fourth and final benchmark is a more direct look at how the American troops now operate on the ground. It derives from a brief trip we did with General Raymond Odairmo the second most senior American military commander in Iraq, a great bull of a man with a shaved head. He had some very specific people he wanted us to meet; they are known as the Volunteer Security Forces or Civilian Guards. They sprang up in the wake of the surge of the American troops across central Iraq this year which has had some success in quelling the violence in some of the most troubled regions. Thousands of volunteers all Sunni Arabs have been stepping forward and often to protect their own neighborhoods. Some a former insurgents, which says others are young unemployed men who have had enough of the violence. It is a remarkable turn around. It is so many now want to co-operate with the Americans, the very people that previously they been trying to kill. The Americans of course have been eager to sign the map and give them contracts, 20,000 apparently so far. In the Sunni district of West Baghdad which we went to, the volunteers are filling a void. There was no regular police there because the police are mostly Shiite. With the American enthusiastic about this great force, the majority Shite population in the country is becoming increasingly alarmed. They fear that a Sunni militia of dubious loyalty to the government is being created across the Sunni heartlands and if the Americans hand responsibility to them and then go back, it could be that they have created a perfect recipe for all out civil war.

我的第四个，也是最后一个标准是更加直接的关注美军如何对这块土地进行管理。这个标准是在一次简单旅行中想到的。当时和我们同行的是雷蒙德•奥丹尔默将军，他是美军驻伊拉克高级指挥官的第二把手。他身体强悍、剃着光头。他有一些很特别的人想介绍我们认识，他们就是所谓的“安全武装志愿者”或“公民护卫者”。今年，他们穿越了伊拉克的中部，紧随着美军的大部队来到这里，他们已经成功平息了伊拉克几个最动乱地区的暴力冲突。成千上万的志愿者都是逊尼派阿拉伯人，他们一直冲在前面，目标是保卫他们的家园。一位曾是叛乱分子的人说，叛党中的其他人都是年轻没有工作的男人，他们有的只是足够的暴力。这是一个非常引人注目的转变。很多人过去只想着杀戮，而如今却希望和美国人合作。美国人现在当然急切的为他们标注地图，签订合同，事实上目前已有20000人和他们签订了合同。在西巴格达的逊尼派地区，也就是我们去的地方，志愿者填补了那里的空缺。那里没有固定的警察，因为警察大部分是什叶派教徒。美国对这股强大的武装力量很感兴趣，现在伊拉克的主要什叶派教徒已经产生了日益严重的危机感。他们害怕逊尼派对政府的忠诚是虚假的，目的是为了建立一个逊尼派民兵的核心阵地，如果美国人把责任转交给他们，自己返回美国，这样他们就有足够的能力应付全面内战。

ANNOUNCER: Richard Gulping.
播音员：以上是理查德•高尔平为您带来的报道。