Oh, dear! Just when you thought the Iraq problem was solved because you haven't heard about it for a while, everything's back to murders, chaos, and terror. What happened?
喔,天啊!正当你以为伊拉克的问题已经解决,因为你已经有一阵子没听到消息了,一切又回到谋杀、混乱、和恐慌。发生了什么事?
In 2003, the U.S. invaded Iraq because of its alleged connections to terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. At the time Saddam Hussein, a brutal dictator, ruled the country. He was part of the Sunni minority and suppressed the Shia majority. Iraq was conquered fairly quickly, but the U.S. had no plan for the country. The until-then-suppressed Shia majority took over and began oppressing the Sunnis because suppressing other faiths proven to be such a good idea.
2003年,因其与恐怖行动以及大规模毁灭性武器间的可疑连结性,美国入侵伊拉克。当时海珊,一名惨无人道的独裁者,统治那国家。他是逊尼少数派的一部分,并打压什叶多数派。伊拉克很快就被攻下,但美国对此国家并无计划。直到当时都被打压的什叶多数派继任,并开始压迫逊尼派,因为打压其他信仰证明是这么一个好点子。
Unsurprisingly, a Sunni rebel uprising began, and terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda trickled into Iraq, and local forces, often former Sunni military, began fighting the U.S. troops and the newly-formed Iraqi state, peaking in a bloody civil war in 2006. Since then, people in Iraq have basically been segregated by religion.
不意外地,一场逊尼派起义开始了,而像是盖达的恐怖份子组织缓缓渗入伊拉克,然后当地军力,通常是前任的逊尼派军队,开始对抗美国军队及刚成立的伊拉克政府,在2006年一场血流成河的内战达到高峰。自此后,伊拉克的人民基本上被依照宗教所隔离。
So in a tragic irony of history, the U.S. invasion led to the formation of the very terrorists the U.S. wanted to eliminate in the first place, because Iraq was now the perfect training ground for terrorism.
所以在历史中那悲剧性的讽刺事件中,美国的入侵导致了美国原先想要消灭的那些恐怖分子集结起来,因为伊拉克现在是恐怖活动绝佳的训练基地。
To understand this complicated conflict better, we need to understand the relationship between the two main branches of the Muslim faith: Shia and Sunni Islam. Sunnis make up about 80% of the Muslim world, and Shia about 20%. And the hardliners on both sides don't like each other very much.
要更加了解这个复杂的冲突,我们需要了解穆斯林信仰中两个主要分支之间的关系:什叶和逊尼穆斯林。逊尼派组成大约穆斯林世界的百分之八十,而什叶派大约百分之二十。两边的强硬派份子都不是很喜欢彼此。
Saudi Arabia and Iran are the two most powerful players in the game of faiths. They both have no separation of state and religion, domestic problems, and a lot of oil money, and they support groups that fight the other religious orientation. And one of those terror organizations supported by Saudi Arabia was Islamic state in Iraq, or ISI for short.
沙乌地阿拉伯和伊朗是信仰之战里两个最有力的对手。它们两者都没有国家和宗教的隔离政策、都有国内的问题、还有很多石油带来的财富,它们也都支持反对其他宗教取向的组织。沙乌地阿拉伯所支持的其中一个恐怖组织就是伊拉克伊斯兰国,或是缩写 ISI。
In 2010, the Arab Spring happened and changed the whole situation in the Middle East. In Syria, dictator Bashar al-Assad didn't think much of resigning and started a gruesome civil war against his own people. The longer the war went on, the more foreign groups joined the fight, most of them for religious reasons and with a goal of building an Islamic state in the region.
在2010年,阿拉伯之春爆发,并改变了中东整个局势。在叙利亚,独裁者 Bashar al-Assad(叙国总统)并不想辞职,并发起一场对抗他自己人民的可怕内战。战争持续越久、越多外国组织加入战争,他们大部分是为了宗教因素,并带着于此区域建立伊斯兰政府的目标。
And one of them was the infamous ISI, which now became the Islamic state in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. They had fought in Iraq for years and had thousands of well-trained and fanatic soldiers. They already quasi-controlled parts of northern Iraq and were very determined to build their religious state. And they changed the game in Syria like no one expected.
他们之一就是恶名昭彰的 ISI,那现在成为伊拉克和叙利亚的伊斯兰政府,或称之为 ISIS。他们已在伊拉克战争多年,并有数千名训练有素且狂热的士兵。他们已经几乎控制了部分伊拉克北部,且十分坚持要建立他们的宗教政府。他们出乎大众意料改变了在叙利亚的局势。
ISIS was so unbelievably violent and radical that soon there was a war with almost every other faction of the Syrian rebel armies. They attacked and killed members of other Muslim terrorist groups. In the territories they controlled they built Islamic state with rules so strict that even the hardliners of Al-Qaeda and Saudi Arabia were shocked and withdrew their support.
ISIS 是如此难以置信地暴力和极端,以致于很快就和几乎每个叙利亚反抗军的其他派系都掀起战争。他们攻击并杀害其他穆斯林恐怖组织成员。在他们控制的领地中,他们建立伊斯兰政府,其统治如此严苛,甚至连盖达组织和沙乌地阿拉伯的强硬派份子都大吃一惊,并收回他们的支持。
ISIS has been accused of responsibility for multiple massacres against civilians, countless suicide bombings, the hostage taking of women and children, the executions of their prisoners, and beheadings—all kinds of medieval horrors we would rather not to have to illustrate. And this lovely gathering of human beings recently decided it was time to take more territory in Iraq.
ISIS 被指控要负责多次平民大屠杀、无数次的自杀炸弹攻击、挟持妇孺作为人质、处决他们的囚犯、还有斩首行为--所有我们宁愿不必描述出来的中世纪恐怖行为。这群人的可爱聚会最近决定是时候在伊拉克占领更多领地了。
Since the U.S. left Iraq, the Shia prime minister Nouri al-Maliki has monopolized power and discriminated against Sunnis wherever possible. The government of Iraq is widely regarded as being corrupt, incapable, and it's certainly hated by a large part of its citizens.
自美国离开伊拉克后,什叶派的总理 Nouri al-Maliki 已经独揽权力并竭尽所能四处排挤逊尼派。伊拉克政府被广为认为贪腐、无能,且绝对受其大部分国民所痛恨。
The Iraqi army consisting of about 300,000 soldiers was created using 25 billion U.S. dollars in tax money, but it's not loyal to its government and has been withdrawing or completely disbanding, giving up city after city, because ISIS has announced that everyone who opposes them will be killed.
由大约三十万名士兵所组成的伊拉克军队,是从税金中花费两百五十亿美金所打造,但它对其政府并不忠诚,且已经撤退、或是完全解散,一个城市接着一个城市投降,因为 ISIS 已经宣布所有反对他们的人都将被杀害。
They have proven they mean business. By June, 2014, they'd conquered the big chunk of Iraq, including Mosul, Iraq's second largest city. They've stolen hundreds of millions from captured banks, making them the richest terror organization on earth. And they are constantly working on establishing a super medieval religious state.
他们已经证明他们是认真的。在2014年六月,他们已攻下伊拉克的一大部分,包括 Mosul,伊拉克第二大城。他们从俘虏的银行偷取数亿元,让他们成为地球上最富有的恐怖组织。他们持续努力建立一个超级中世纪的宗教政府。
Iran and the U.S. are even considering working together to fight them. That's how gruesome the situation is. Events in Iraq show again that exploiting the people you've defeated in the war, denying them power, and living in a stake in the rebuilding of the country is just sowing the seeds of the next bat of violence.
伊朗和美国甚至在考虑要合作打击他们。那就是情况有多么可怕。在伊拉克的事件再次显示了剥削你在战争中击败的人民、否决他们的权力、还有生活在重建国家的风险之中,只是在为下一波暴力行为埋下种子。
Somehow, we have to break the circle.
用某种方式,我们必须打破这轮回。