New loyalties give Baghdad reprieve

New loyalties give Baghdad reprieve
By Hugh Sykes
BBC News, Baghdad

The US and UK governments have recently announced they will be reducing troop numbers in Iraq. But even after this withdrawal, thousands will remain in the country, and for some Iraqis the new alliances which are springing up are proving controversial.

美國及英國政府最近已宣布要減少伊拉克的駐軍。但即使在撤軍之後，駐留在伊拉克的軍隊仍逾數千人，對一些伊拉克人來說，突然出現的新聯盟才是件受爭議的事。

A scene from a bright sunny Baghdad day - just after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 - remains in my mind as vivid as a film.

就在2003年Saddam Hussein政府垮台後，巴格達一個晴朗和煦的日子裡，一個場景，鮮明得宛如電影情節般印在我腦海中。

A heavily armed US tank commander and his crew stand warily behind a roll of razor wire in the centre of Baghdad, while the crowd on the other side of the wire violently attack a lone Iraqi soldier who is trying to walk through the throng with his hands held high, holding two small pieces of white cloth.

在巴格達的市中心，全副武裝的美國坦克指揮官和他的隊員警戒地站在一圈圈蛇護型刮刀刺絲網的後方，站在刮刀刺絲網外的群眾正粗暴的攻擊一名落單的伊拉克士兵，他高舉著雙手分別握著一小塊白布試圖穿越人群。

Men in the crowd jump on him, knock off his helmet, and beat him to the ground, kicking and punching.

群眾裡有些人跳到他身上，打落他的頭盔，把他打倒在地上拳腳相向。

One of the American soldiers pulls the razor wire aside to create a small gap, grabs the surrendering Iraqi soldier by the collar of his jacket and pulls him to safety. And clearest of all in that scene is the frozen expression of fear and confusion on the face of the American tank commander.

一位美國士兵把刮刀刺絲網拉到一邊騰出一小塊空隙，一把抓住這個投降士兵的夾克衣領，把他拖進安全的地方。在那場景中最清晰的莫過於美國坦克指揮官臉上凍結了的表情，滿是擔憂與困惑。

Troop 'surge'

Many months before the Iraq war had even begun, an American general, the Army Chief of Staff, Eric Shinseki, testified to a Senate committee in Washington.

伊拉克戰爭還沒開始的好幾個月以前，一位美國將軍，陸軍參謀長，Eric Shinseki(辛斯基)，在華盛頓向參議委員會作證。

He was asked how many troops would be required to secure Iraq after victory. His reply: "Something in the order of several hundred thousand."

當被問及戰勝之後需要多少軍隊來維持伊拉克的安全問題時，他答覆: "大約要幾十萬人"

The Deputy Secretary of State for Defence, Paul Wolfowitz, retorted that the general's estimate was "wildly off the mark".

當時的國防部副部長Paul Wolfowitz就反駁將軍的這個估計實在是"太離譜了"。

"It's hard to conceive," he went on, "that it would take more troops to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq than it would take to conduct the war itself."

"這實在是太難以想像了，"他繼續說，"為了穩定後海珊時期(post-Saddam)的伊拉克，要動用比打一場戰爭來得更多的軍隊。"

General Shinseki lost his job.

Shinseki將軍丟了他的飯碗。

Since then, nearly 4,000 American troops have been killed, more than 10,000 have been severely wounded and at least 80,000 Iraqis have died.

從那時候起，將近四千名美軍陣亡，超過一萬人受重傷，並且至少有八萬名伊拉克人喪生。

President George W Bush, in his TV address last month, claimed that the extra 30,000 troops brought specially to Iraq for the so-called "surge" against car bombers and sectarian killers in Baghdad were beginning to achieve some success.

上個月，布希總統在他的電視演說中聲稱，特別增派到伊拉克的三萬名士兵，就是所謂預防巴格達汽車炸彈客與宗派殺手的增兵計劃有了一些初步的成效。

"Our troops are performing brilliantly," he said. "Ordinary life is beginning to return [to Baghdad]."

"我們的士兵表現出色，"他說。"日常生活正開始回歸巴格達。"

'Oppressive atmosphere'

It is true, but only to a very limited extent.

這是事實，但卻極為有限。

The president referred, for example, to markets that were shuttered a year ago, but which were now re-opening.

例如，總統論及一年多前歇業的各市場，現在又再度營業。

I went to one of those places, the so-called Thieves' Market, in part of the city centre where dozens of people have been killed by car and roadside bombs.

我到了一個叫做小偷市場的地方，位在市中心的一處，許多人在那裡命喪於汽車及路邊炸彈。

It is called the Thieves' Market because Baghdad citizens who have had their homes robbed would go there to see if their belongings were on sale.

被稱為小偷市場是由於巴格達市民家中如遇劫遭竊，他們必定會到此查看出售的贓物是否為他們所有。

And the section I visited was not shuttered.

我造訪的這一區不曾歇業。

Shops and stalls selling satellite dishes and decoders, watches, and pirate DVD films were open.

出售碟形衛星信號接收器(小耳朵)及解碼器、手錶、盜版DVD影片的商店及貨攤始終營業。

There was a friendly welcome. I was given a glass of steaming hot sugary tea.

那裡有著親切的款待。送到我手上的是一杯熱騰騰的甜茶。

But there was an oppressive atmosphere, and along the entire length of the street there was a high concrete blast wall between the pavement and the road.

但那裡卻有著一種壓迫的氣氛，高大的混凝土防爆牆沿著一整條街阻絕於人行道及馬路間。

There were more blast walls along most of the main street that we drove down to get to the Thieves' Market.

沿著我們驅車往小偷市場的這條大街上，大部份都築起了一道道的防爆牆。

Many parts of Baghdad have become concrete mazes.

巴格達許多地方都成了一座座混凝土製的迷宮。

New alliance

Car and truck bomb attacks on civilians have not stopped but the number has fallen significantly since the start of the surge and of the Baghdad security plan earlier this year.

汽車及卡車炸彈對平民的攻擊未曾停歇，但是在增兵及年初巴格達的安全計畫展開後，攻擊次數已經明顯減少許多。

Those explosions were nearly always the work of an unholy alliance of al-Qaeda in Iraq and former Saddam Hussein Baath Party loyalists who had lost their jobs and their entire livelihoods in the indiscriminate de-Baathification process that took place after the invasion.

爆炸案幾乎總是蓋達組織在伊拉克的邪惡聯盟，以及前Saddam Hussein復興黨的死忠者所為；這些死忠者在不分皂白的去復興黨的過程中失去他們的工作及生活。

But many of those Saddam loyalists who used to shoot and bomb Americans are now fighting alongside US troops against al Qaeda.

但是過去許多曾射殺並轟擊美國人的Saddam死忠者現在紛紛與美軍併肩對抗蓋達組織。

One of the sheikhs co-operating with the Americans, Abu Risha, was assassinated in an al-Qaeda bomb attack in September.

Abu Risha這位與美國人合作的教長在九月份一起蓋達組織策動的炸彈攻擊中遇襲身亡。

President Bush paid tribute to him as a brave man.

布希總統推崇他為一個勇敢的人。

American troops helped the Iraqi armed forces guard mourners at his funeral in Ramadi in Anbar province, the district west of Baghdad that was once routinely described as "the heartland of the insurgency".

美軍替伊拉克武裝護衛那些前來Anbar的Ramadi追悼者，這是在巴格達西區昔日慣常被描繪成暴動的中心。

This new alliance of Americans and Sunni Muslim sheikhs against al-Qaeda is trumpeted by the United States as a considerable success. But many Shia Muslims are wary of it.

由美國人與遜尼派穆斯林教長所組成對抗蓋達組織的新聯盟，被美國當作是極大的成功因而大肆吹捧。但卻為許多什葉派的穆斯林所戒慎。

To them, this looks like the Americans taking sides with their enemy, with the minority that ruled over them and oppressed them through the dark years of Saddam Hussein.

對他們而言，這就像美國在袒護他們的敵人，袒護那些在Saddam Hussein的黑暗歲月裡統治他們、壓迫他們的少數人。

And they will need to be convinced that this does not pave the way for another act of betrayal like 1991, after the Gulf War, when the first President George Bush urged Shia Muslims in Iraq to rise up against Saddam Hussein.

因此必須要使他們相信這並不是在為著另一起像1991年背叛的行為鋪路，波斯灣戰爭結束後， 當時的老布希總統慫恿伊拉克什葉派的穆斯林起來反抗Saddam Hussein。

And when they did, America did nothing to protect them from the slaughter that followed.

然後當他們照做了，在隨之而來的殺戮中，美國卻完全沒有盡到一點保護他們的責任。

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7030075.stm

Published: 2007/10/06 11:00:56 GMT
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