Five years ago, on March 20, 2003, U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq to overthrow a dictatorship that President Bush accused of developing weapons of mass destruction. No WMD were ever found. In this first in a series of reports on the Iraq war, the fight against an insurgency continues even though a troop surge last year has helped reduce the level of violence.
五年前，也就是2003年3月20号，以美国为首的联军攻入伊拉克，推翻了被布什总统指称研制大规模杀伤性武器的萨达姆独裁政权。但是，在伊拉克没有找到大规模杀伤性武器。尽管去年实行的增兵计划使伊拉克境内的暴力事件有所减少，但打击暴乱活动的战斗仍在继续。
Combat in Iraq, and U.S. troops are still battling insurgents, five years after the invasion.
在对伊战争爆发五年之后，美国军队仍在同暴乱分子作战。
A U.S.-led coalition of some 300,000 troops launched the attack on Iraq in the pre-dawn hours of March 20, 2003. The objective was to topple Saddam Hussein's dictatorship - accused by the United States and its coalition partners of possessing and actively developing weapons of mass destruction.
2003年3月20号凌晨，以美国为首的大约30万联军向伊拉克发动进攻。这场战争的目的是推翻被美国及其盟友指称拥有并积极研制大规模杀伤武器的萨达姆政权。
In the build-up to the war, then U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell laid out the case against Iraq before the U.N. Security Council. In his presentation, he displayed aerial photographs of alleged chemical weapons sites and mobile labs designed to make nerve agents.
在准备发动战争的过程中，当时的美国国务卿鲍威尔在联合国安理会说明了向伊拉克开战的理由。鲍威尔在讲话中展示了从空中拍摄的照片，其中的图像被说成是化学武器所在地以及用于制造神经毒气的移动式实验室。
"Ladies and gentlemen, these are sophisticated facilities. For example, they can produce anthrax and botulinum toxin - in fact they can produce enough dry biological agent to kill thousands upon thousands of people," he said.
U.S.-led forces soon achieved the invasion's main objective - overthrowing Saddam Hussein's regime. Saddam himself was captured in December 2003, and then executed three years later after a lengthy trial.
以美国为首的联军很快就完成了对伊战争的主要目标，推翻了萨达姆政权。2003年12月，萨达姆被抓获。经过长时间的审判后，萨达姆于三年后被处死。
But no weapons of mass destruction were ever found, despite thorough searches of the Iraqi countryside by U.S. soldiers and teams of weapons specialists. By 2004, it was clear that any WMD Saddam Hussein possessed had been destroyed in the 1990s.
然而，尽管美国军人和武器专家组对伊拉克农村地区进行了全面的搜寻，但并没有找到任何大规模杀伤武器。人们在2004年明确得知，萨达姆曾经拥有的所有大规模杀伤武器都在上世纪90年代销毁了。
Meanwhile, an insurgency initially made up mainly of Sunni fighters grew in strength, taking a heavy toll on U.S. forces through roadside bombs and other attacks. Iraqi civilians, especially Shi'ites, also were targeted and many were killed.
最初主要由逊尼派穆斯林发动的暴乱活动不断增多，大量美国军人死于路边炸弹和其他袭击。伊拉克平民，特别是什叶派穆斯林，也成为袭击目标，很多人遭到杀害。
Anthony Cordesman, a military expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says the Bush administration was unprepared to deal with the invasion's aftermath.
战略及国际研究中心的军事专家科德斯曼说，布什政府对伊拉克战争的善后工作没有做好准备。
"We went into Iraq prepared for one kind of war which was to overthrow Saddam's regime and defeat Iraq's conventional forces. We had the illusion we wouldn't need stability operations and nation-building," he said. "We were unprepared for what happened, we did not create the conditions for stability."
他说：“我们攻入伊拉克时，只准备打一种类型的战争，这就是推翻萨达姆政权，击溃伊拉克的常规武装力量。我们本以为不需要维持稳定的行动和重建工作。我们对发生的事情没有做好准备，没有创造实现稳定的条件。”
Despite free elections and the formation of a representative government, instability grew.
尽管伊拉克举行了自由选举，并组成了代表制政府，但动乱在不断加剧。
Civilian casualties mounted, from car bombs and other attacks carried out by Sunni and Shi'ite militias. Al-Qaida in Iraq was behind many of the bombings in a drive to escalate sectarian violence. By 2006, the country bordered on civil war.
逊尼派和什叶派穆斯林都在制造汽车炸弹爆炸事件，并发动其他形式的袭击，平民死伤人数越来越多。基地组织策划了很多爆炸事件，煽动派系之间的暴力活动。到2006年，伊拉克已经濒临爆发内战的边缘。
In early 2007, President Bush ordered an additional 30,000 troops to Iraq in an effort to quell the violence. The troop surge, and new tactics of holding areas after insurgents were expelled, brought a measure of calm to parts of Baghdad and other areas of Iraq. Civilian deaths are down 70 percent from a year ago. In once violent Anbar province, the U.S. military says there are fewer than 20 incidents a week - compared to over 300 in October 2006.
2007年初，布什下令向伊拉克增兵三万，以便遏制暴力活动。增兵行动以及在驱逐暴乱分子后继续坚守的新策略，在某种程度上使巴格达某些市区和伊拉克其他一些地区恢复了平静。平民死亡人数比一年前减少了70%。美国军方说，在曾经充满暴力的安巴尔省，2006年10月每星期发生300多起暴力事件，而目前减少到每星期不到20起。
One reason for the decline in attacks is that many former Sunni fighters have turned against al-Qaida and are helping U.S. forces maintain security.
袭击事件减少的一个原因是：很多前逊尼派战斗人员开始反对基地组织，并帮助美军维持治安。
"We capitalized on a spontaneous tribal uprising against al-Qaida. That allowed us to create the "Sons of Iraq", a force that now has some 90,000 men about three times the size of our surge," added Anthony Cordesman. "Al-Qaida helped us immeasurably. I think we have to give credit to our enemy. They did so much damage to themselves in alienating tribal groups and Sunnis, in driving former insurgents to work with U.S. troops, that oddly enough one of our strongest allies in making this work was our enemy."
The top commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus developed the surge strategy, but expressed caution about its success while speaking recently with VOA's Persian News Network.
驻伊美军司令彼得雷乌斯制定了增兵战略，但他最近在接受美国之音波斯语新闻组采访时，对增兵战略的成功表示出谨慎的态度。他说：
"We can certainly say the security aspect of the surge has achieved considerable progress. I wouldn't ever use the word success or victory or anything like that."
“我们当然可以说，增兵战略在治安方面取得了相当大的进展。我绝不使用‘成功’或者‘胜利’之类的字眼。”
He later told the Washington Post newspaper that the Iraqi government has made insufficient progress in achieving national reconciliation and providing basic public services. One of the main objectives of the surge was to reduce the level of violence so that the Shi'ite-dominated government could take advantage of the lull to move forward on these. General Petraeus told VOA much more needs to be done.
此后，彼得雷乌斯对华盛顿邮报说，伊拉克政府在实现全国和解和提供基本公共设施方面没有取得足够的进展。增兵计划的主要目标是减少暴力事件，以便由什叶派主导的伊拉克政府能够利用这段平静时期推动全国和解以及提供基本公共设施方面的工作。彼得雷乌斯对美国之音说，要做的事还有很多。
"Nothing is easy here, progress is difficult to achieve and it is difficult to sustain and build on. There has been progress, we're intending to try to build on it, to try to cement some of the gains, because so far they are tenuous and fragile. They require national political acts of reconciliation, resolving the national political issues."
他说：“在这里，什么事都不容易，很难取得进展，而且很难保持和进一步推动。目前已经取得进步，我们试图在这个基础上再做工作，把一些成就维持下来，因为这些成就还很小，很脆弱。他们需要为和解采取全国性的政治行动，解决全国性的政治问题。”
The Iraq war is now the second-longest in modern U.S. history, with almost 4,000 Americans dead.
现在，对伊战争已经是美国现代史上持续时间第二长的战争，造成将近四千美国人死亡。
And a majority of Americans have now concluded the war was a mistake. However, President Bush strongly believes otherwise.
大多数美国人现在断定这是一场错误的战争。然而，布什总统坚定地认为发动对伊战争是正确的。
"The decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision early in my presidency, it is the right decision at this point in my presidency and will forever be the right decision," said Mr. Bush.
他说：“我就任总统后不久决定推翻萨达姆，当时是正确的决定，现在还是正确的决定，而且将永远是正确的决定。”
Mr. Bush went on to vow America will continue to stand with Iraq. Yet with Americans still dying, pressure seems likely to mount to bring an early end to the war.
随后，布什总统誓言美国将继续与伊拉克站在一起。不过，由于仍然有美国人在死亡，看来要求尽早结束战争的压力很可能会增大。 |