VOA常速英语2013--班加西遇袭的教训可能影响对叙决策

班加西遇袭的教训可能影响对叙决策

STATE DEPARTMENT — September 11 is the first anniversary of the attack on the U.S. mission in the Libyan city of Benghazi that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.

The attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi set-off a political firestorm as Republican lawmakers asked why the Obama administration was slow to call this terrorism.

对美国驻班加西使馆是袭击引发政治上的轩然大波，共和党议员质问为何奥巴马政府迟迟才称之为恐怖主义。

Then-Secretary-of-State Hillary Clinton told critics it didn't matter.

时任国务卿希拉里·克林顿告诉批评者这并不重要。

"The fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided 1 they would go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make?" she asked.

“事实是，有四个美国人丧生了。这是因为一场抗议活动吗？还是因为有人一天夜里出来走走，然后决定杀几个美国人吗？在这件事上这有什么区别呢？”

A year later, President Obama's handling of the Benghazi attack still appears to make a difference to some in Congress as Secretary of State John Kerry leads the administration's push for authorization 2 to attack Syria.

一年后，对于国会的一些议员来说，总统奥巴马对班加西袭击的处理显然起到了作用，此时国务卿约翰·克里正负责努力获得政府进攻叙利亚的授权。

"The same administration that was seemingly so quick to involve the U.S. in Syria now was reluctant to use the same resources at its disposal to attempt to rescue the four brave Americans that fought for their lives in Benghazi," noted 3 Republican Congressman 4 Jeff Duncan. "Mr. Kerry, you have never been one that's advocated for anything other than caution when involving U.S. forces in past conflicts.

共和党议员Jeff Duncan说，“如今政府似乎这么急于涉入叙利亚问题，而也是这同一个政府，当初却迟迟不愿使用同样的资源来营救在班加西战斗中牺牲的四位英勇的美国人。克里先生，在过去的冲突中，每当涉及美国军队问题都非常谨慎。”

Kerry said comparisons between Syria and Benghazi are political.

克里说叙利亚和班加西之间的区别是政治性的。

"When I was in the United States Senate, I supported military action in any number of occasions including Grenada, Panama, I can run a list of them. And I am not going to sit here and be told by you that I don't have a sense of what the judgment 5 is with respect to this. We're talking about people being killed by gas, and you want to go talk about Benghazi," Kerry said.

“当我在美国参议院时，我支持多个情况下的军事行动，包括对格林纳达、巴拿马，我可以列出一个单子来。我不希望坐在这里听你们说我在这问题上没有判断力，我们谈论的是人们被毒气杀死，而你们却想谈论班加西。”

But memories of Benghazi could weaken the president's push for Congressional authorization, said American University professor Alan Lichtman.

但有关班加西的记忆却能削弱总统获得国会授权的努力，美国大学教授艾伦·里奇曼如是说。

"Benghazi certainly doesn't help the president. And if the vote really is one or two votes, the influence of Benghazi could be a tip point," Lichtman said.

“班加西当然帮不上总统的忙，如果投票只是一两张，那么班加西的影响是微乎其微的。”

Especially compared to the depth of international support for intervening in Libya two years ago, according to Manal Omar at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

美国和平研究所的Manal Omar说，尤其是与两年前国际上对干预利比亚的支持力度来说更是如此。

"When you look at Libya there was a justifiable 6 argument that you can go in through NATO, there was a multilateral approach, and that the intervention 7 would be fairly quick and short time frame. It was finite. You can control it. That's very hard to convincingly argue on Syria," she noted.

“回顾下利比亚，当时存在着通过北约的无可争议的理由，当时存在着多边手段，干预是很快的，短期内进行的，是有限的，能控制的。而叙利亚问题在这一点上很难有说服力。”

The continuing violence in Benghazi shows how little Washington understands, said Lichtman.

里奇曼说，班加西继续的暴力事件说明华盛顿对之了解甚少。

"We really didn't know very much about what was going on in Libya prior to the Benghazi attack," he said. "We need to learn a lot more about these other cultures and these other countries. For all the tens-of-billions of dollars we spend on intelligence, we don't seem to be very intelligent about our foreign policy.

“在班加西袭击之前，我们确实对利比亚的事态了解不多，我们需要对其他文化和国家了解更多。相对于我们在情报上花的数百亿美元，我们似乎在本国的外交政策上并不明智。”

After the Benghazi attack, just four American diplomats 8 were suspended for security lapses 9. All have since been reassigned to new posts.

班加西袭击发生后，只有四名美国外交人员因安全疏忽被停止，但后来都被安排到新的岗位。