Iraq underSaddam;Only obeying orders

　　薩達姆治下的伊拉克;唯命是從;

　　The Weight of a Mustard Seed: The Intimate Storyof an Iraqi General and His Family During ThirtyYears of Tyranny，By Wendell Steavenson

　　《一粒薺菜籽的重量：一個伊拉克將軍和他的家庭在三十年暴政時期的親密故事》，溫德爾史蒂文森著。

　　Why did so many apparently decent Iraqis serveSaddam Hussein so loyally for so many years? AnAmerican-British reporter, Wendell Steavenson, has interviewed a score or more of Iraqisoldiers, from sergeants to generals, trawling through their life histories to find an answer. Inparticular, she befriends the family of a brave general, Kamel Sachet Aziz al-Janabi, delvinginto his life story through his wife, several of his nine children and numerous friends andadmirers.

　　為什么在那么多的年月里，會有那么多看起來很正直的伊拉克人對薩達姆是那樣的忠心耿耿呢?為了找到答案，美裔英籍記者溫德爾史蒂文森采訪了二十多名伊拉克軍人，其中既有中士也有將軍，深入了解了他們的人生經(jīng)歷。值得一提的是，她還為英勇的將軍卡米爾薩西爾阿齊茲阿爾-賈納比的家人提供了熱心幫助，并通過他的妻子、9個孩子中的幾個以及眾多朋友和崇拜者，對他的人生傳奇進行了探尋。

　　Only later does the reader discover that he was one of countless Iraqis executed by Saddam,for reasons that never become clear, in his case only a few years before the Americanstoppled the dictator. General Sachet emerges as a fundamentally honest and upright,though occasionally ruthless and intellectually limited, soldier who turns to religion, likeso many other Iraqis, as the regime putrefies. His family is battered. Though its membershave every cause to celebrate Saddam s demise, most of them sympathise withand someof them actively supportthe anti-American insurgency that was still rife as this book wentto print.

　　然而隨后讀者就發(fā)現(xiàn)，他是被薩達姆處決的無數(shù)伊拉克人之一，而原因一直不明不白。他是在美國推倒薩達姆獨裁政權(quán)僅僅幾年前被處死的。薩西爾將軍給人的感覺是一名比較老實、正直的軍人，但偶爾也會顯示出殘忍和不夠聰明的一面。隨著伊拉克政體的敗落，像許多其他伊拉克人一樣，他也加入了宗教。他的家庭現(xiàn)已破落不堪，可盡管他的家人完全有理由為薩達姆的死而歡慶，然而對于在該書行將付梓之時仍舊愈演愈烈的反美暴亂事件，他們中大多數(shù)人卻持贊同態(tài)度，有的甚至予以了積極支持。

　　Ms Steavenson seeks to examine the inner lives of other Iraqi military men. Sherelentlessly tracks them down to their abodes of exile in Abu Dhabi, Amman, Beirut,Damascus and London. After a while, there is a dispiritingly drab sameness about theirstories. In short, you had to lie to survive. Perhaps the most honest in his reflections is adoctor who became a senior officer in the medical corps. You had to lie against yourprinciples. You had to say things you did not believe. It was mental conflict. To live 35years like this. It becomes a personality trait.

　　史蒂文森試圖探查其他伊拉克軍人的內(nèi)心世界。不屈不撓的她循著他們的蹤跡，找到了他們流放至迪拜、安曼、貝魯特、大馬士革以及倫敦后的住所。交談不一會兒，她便感到氣餒了，因為他們的故事千篇一律，單調(diào)而乏味。簡單點說就是，每個人都不得不靠撒謊活下去。一名后來成為醫(yī)療部隊高級軍官的醫(yī)生對往事的反思或許最為實在。你不得不違背原則地說謊，說一些你不相信的事情，這是一種心理矛盾。35年都是這樣活過來的，它已經(jīng)成為一種個性特征。

　　All those interviewed have tales of horror. Just about all of them witness summaryexecutions: of enemy soldiers , of Kurds, of Kuwaitis, of Iraqi deserters, ofsenior Iraqi officers who are deemed to have been guilty of losing battles or even merely ofretreating when they should have stayed to fight and die. General Sachet is ordered tooversee such executions. A sergeant witnesses an Iraqi, who was alleged to have abused awoman in Kuwait, hauled up by a crane to be shot by fellow Iraqi soldiers. The same happensto an Iraqi colonel caught smuggling gold. Kuwaiti prisoners have their ears nailed to a plankof wood.

　　所有被采訪者都經(jīng)歷過恐怖的事情。幾乎所有人都目睹過處決現(xiàn)場，被處決的有敵軍，有庫爾德人，有科威特人，有伊軍的逃兵，也有因為打敗仗或者因為本該戰(zhàn)斗到死卻撤退而被認定有罪的伊拉克高級將領(lǐng)。薩西爾將軍受命監(jiān)督了這些處決過程。一個伊拉克人被指控曾在科威特對一婦女施虐，一位中士親眼見到他被吊在起重機上然后伊拉克士兵開槍把他擊斃。一位走私黃金被抓的伊拉克上校也有同樣的遭遇。科威特戰(zhàn)俘的耳朵則被釘在厚厚的木板上。

　　A former bodyguard of Saddam s describes, admiringly, how he saw the dictator taking outhis revolver and shooting between the eyes one of his own relatives who had taken ayounger wife and had rejected the president s request to go back to his original one. Arelation of General Sachet tells how Qusay Saddam Hussein, the dictator s son, gave an orderto kill 2,000 prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison to relieve overcrowding.

　　一名薩達姆前任貼身護衛(wèi)描述了他看到的這位獨裁者拔出左輪手槍，朝自己的一名親戚開槍并打中眉心的情景，言語中流露出欽佩之意。那人娶了一名年輕的妻子，而總統(tǒng)要求他回到他原來的妻子身邊但被他拒絕了。薩西爾將軍的一個親戚說，這位獨裁者的兒子烏賽薩達姆侯賽因曾下令殺死阿布格萊布監(jiān)獄的2000名囚犯，以減輕監(jiān)獄人滿為患的壓力。

　　Perhaps most dispiriting of all, virtually none of those interviewed acknowledges responsibilityfor what was done. Most of their explanations are variations on we were only obeyingorders. What could I do? But I helped people, many people! I suffered also, you know. This was usual then. The gassing of 5,000 Kurds in Halabja was, concedes a seeminglyupright general, a political mistake.

　　或許最令人氣餒的是，事實上沒有一個受訪者承認對自己的所作所為負有責任。他們的辯解說來道去，大多都是我們只是在執(zhí)行命令，我有什么辦法呢?但我還是幫了人的，很多人!，你知道的，我也很痛苦。一名似乎還算正直的將軍說，在哈拉布甲用毒氣殺害5000名庫爾德人的事件，是一個政治錯誤。

　　I liked them. I joked with them. I sympathised with them, writes Ms Steavenson. But notone ever looked me straight in the eye and admitted responsibility for the crimes of thegovernment which they had served. Even after the depredations of Saddam Hussein, manyof those Ms Steavenson talked to still hankered after someone like him. Iraqis, says one, arean unruly mass of shirugislang for thick-headed Marsh Arabswho need the rule of therod, a strongman, to control them. Judging by this remorselessly bleak account of Iraq smoral collapse, one cannot but feel squeamish about Iraq s future, under any regime.

　　我喜歡他們，和他們一起開玩笑，我同情他們，史蒂文森寫道，但是沒有一個人直視過我的眼睛，承認他們對自己曾經(jīng)效忠的政府所犯下的罪行負有責任。盡管受盡薩達姆的蹂躪，接受史蒂文森訪談的許多人依然渴望以后還能有像他那樣的人出現(xiàn)。有一個人說，伊拉克人是一群不守規(guī)矩的shirugi，需要棒壓統(tǒng)治，需要一名強勢之人來管住他們。伊拉克的道德崩潰竟然會有一個如此無情、黯淡的注腳，我們不禁要為伊拉克的未來捏一把汗了，不管它是怎樣的政體。

　　Iraq underSaddam;Only obeying orders

　　薩達姆治下的伊拉克;唯命是從;

　　The Weight of a Mustard Seed: The Intimate Storyof an Iraqi General and His Family During ThirtyYears of Tyranny，By Wendell Steavenson

　　《一粒薺菜籽的重量：一個伊拉克將軍和他的家庭在三十年暴政時期的親密故事》，溫德爾史蒂文森著。

　　Why did so many apparently decent Iraqis serveSaddam Hussein so loyally for so many years? AnAmerican-British reporter, Wendell Steavenson, has interviewed a score or more of Iraqisoldiers, from sergeants to generals, trawling through their life histories to find an answer. Inparticular, she befriends the family of a brave general, Kamel Sachet Aziz al-Janabi, delvinginto his life story through his wife, several of his nine children and numerous friends andadmirers.

　　為什么在那么多的年月里，會有那么多看起來很正直的伊拉克人對薩達姆是那樣的忠心耿耿呢?為了找到答案，美裔英籍記者溫德爾史蒂文森采訪了二十多名伊拉克軍人，其中既有中士也有將軍，深入了解了他們的人生經(jīng)歷。值得一提的是，她還為英勇的將軍卡米爾薩西爾阿齊茲阿爾-賈納比的家人提供了熱心幫助，并通過他的妻子、9個孩子中的幾個以及眾多朋友和崇拜者，對他的人生傳奇進行了探尋。

　　Only later does the reader discover that he was one of countless Iraqis executed by Saddam,for reasons that never become clear, in his case only a few years before the Americanstoppled the dictator. General Sachet emerges as a fundamentally honest and upright,though occasionally ruthless and intellectually limited, soldier who turns to religion, likeso many other Iraqis, as the regime putrefies. His family is battered. Though its membershave every cause to celebrate Saddam s demise, most of them sympathise withand someof them actively supportthe anti-American insurgency that was still rife as this book wentto print.

　　然而隨后讀者就發(fā)現(xiàn)，他是被薩達姆處決的無數(shù)伊拉克人之一，而原因一直不明不白。他是在美國推倒薩達姆獨裁政權(quán)僅僅幾年前被處死的。薩西爾將軍給人的感覺是一名比較老實、正直的軍人，但偶爾也會顯示出殘忍和不夠聰明的一面。隨著伊拉克政體的敗落，像許多其他伊拉克人一樣，他也加入了宗教。他的家庭現(xiàn)已破落不堪，可盡管他的家人完全有理由為薩達姆的死而歡慶，然而對于在該書行將付梓之時仍舊愈演愈烈的反美暴亂事件，他們中大多數(shù)人卻持贊同態(tài)度，有的甚至予以了積極支持。

　　Ms Steavenson seeks to examine the inner lives of other Iraqi military men. Sherelentlessly tracks them down to their abodes of exile in Abu Dhabi, Amman, Beirut,Damascus and London. After a while, there is a dispiritingly drab sameness about theirstories. In short, you had to lie to survive. Perhaps the most honest in his reflections is adoctor who became a senior officer in the medical corps. You had to lie against yourprinciples. You had to say things you did not believe. It was mental conflict. To live 35years like this. It becomes a personality trait.

　　史蒂文森試圖探查其他伊拉克軍人的內(nèi)心世界。不屈不撓的她循著他們的蹤跡，找到了他們流放至迪拜、安曼、貝魯特、大馬士革以及倫敦后的住所。交談不一會兒，她便感到氣餒了，因為他們的故事千篇一律，單調(diào)而乏味。簡單點說就是，每個人都不得不靠撒謊活下去。一名后來成為醫(yī)療部隊高級軍官的醫(yī)生對往事的反思或許最為實在。你不得不違背原則地說謊，說一些你不相信的事情，這是一種心理矛盾。35年都是這樣活過來的，它已經(jīng)成為一種個性特征。

　　All those interviewed have tales of horror. Just about all of them witness summaryexecutions: of enemy soldiers , of Kurds, of Kuwaitis, of Iraqi deserters, ofsenior Iraqi officers who are deemed to have been guilty of losing battles or even merely ofretreating when they should have stayed to fight and die. General Sachet is ordered tooversee such executions. A sergeant witnesses an Iraqi, who was alleged to have abused awoman in Kuwait, hauled up by a crane to be shot by fellow Iraqi soldiers. The same happensto an Iraqi colonel caught smuggling gold. Kuwaiti prisoners have their ears nailed to a plankof wood.

　　所有被采訪者都經(jīng)歷過恐怖的事情。幾乎所有人都目睹過處決現(xiàn)場，被處決的有敵軍，有庫爾德人，有科威特人，有伊軍的逃兵，也有因為打敗仗或者因為本該戰(zhàn)斗到死卻撤退而被認定有罪的伊拉克高級將領(lǐng)。薩西爾將軍受命監(jiān)督了這些處決過程。一個伊拉克人被指控曾在科威特對一婦女施虐，一位中士親眼見到他被吊在起重機上然后伊拉克士兵開槍把他擊斃。一位走私黃金被抓的伊拉克上校也有同樣的遭遇。科威特戰(zhàn)俘的耳朵則被釘在厚厚的木板上。

　　A former bodyguard of Saddam s describes, admiringly, how he saw the dictator taking outhis revolver and shooting between the eyes one of his own relatives who had taken ayounger wife and had rejected the president s request to go back to his original one. Arelation of General Sachet tells how Qusay Saddam Hussein, the dictator s son, gave an orderto kill 2,000 prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison to relieve overcrowding.

　　一名薩達姆前任貼身護衛(wèi)描述了他看到的這位獨裁者拔出左輪手槍，朝自己的一名親戚開槍并打中眉心的情景，言語中流露出欽佩之意。那人娶了一名年輕的妻子，而總統(tǒng)要求他回到他原來的妻子身邊但被他拒絕了。薩西爾將軍的一個親戚說，這位獨裁者的兒子烏賽薩達姆侯賽因曾下令殺死阿布格萊布監(jiān)獄的2000名囚犯，以減輕監(jiān)獄人滿為患的壓力。

　　Perhaps most dispiriting of all, virtually none of those interviewed acknowledges responsibilityfor what was done. Most of their explanations are variations on we were only obeyingorders. What could I do? But I helped people, many people! I suffered also, you know. This was usual then. The gassing of 5,000 Kurds in Halabja was, concedes a seeminglyupright general, a political mistake.

　　或許最令人氣餒的是，事實上沒有一個受訪者承認對自己的所作所為負有責任。他們的辯解說來道去，大多都是我們只是在執(zhí)行命令，我有什么辦法呢?但我還是幫了人的，很多人!，你知道的，我也很痛苦。一名似乎還算正直的將軍說，在哈拉布甲用毒氣殺害5000名庫爾德人的事件，是一個政治錯誤。

　　I liked them. I joked with them. I sympathised with them, writes Ms Steavenson. But notone ever looked me straight in the eye and admitted responsibility for the crimes of thegovernment which they had served. Even after the depredations of Saddam Hussein, manyof those Ms Steavenson talked to still hankered after someone like him. Iraqis, says one, arean unruly mass of shirugislang for thick-headed Marsh Arabswho need the rule of therod, a strongman, to control them. Judging by this remorselessly bleak account of Iraq smoral collapse, one cannot but feel squeamish about Iraq s future, under any regime.

　　我喜歡他們，和他們一起開玩笑，我同情他們，史蒂文森寫道，但是沒有一個人直視過我的眼睛，承認他們對自己曾經(jīng)效忠的政府所犯下的罪行負有責任。盡管受盡薩達姆的蹂躪，接受史蒂文森訪談的許多人依然渴望以后還能有像他那樣的人出現(xiàn)。有一個人說，伊拉克人是一群不守規(guī)矩的shirugi，需要棒壓統(tǒng)治，需要一名強勢之人來管住他們。伊拉克的道德崩潰竟然會有一個如此無情、黯淡的注腳，我們不禁要為伊拉克的未來捏一把汗了，不管它是怎樣的政體。