美国国家公共电台 NPR A U.S. Marine Tried To Warn A Comrade, Now He Faces A Discharge

A U.S. Marine¹ Tried To Warn A Comrade, Now He Faces A Discharge 

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Now to a story that hinges on classified information sent by email. Not another story about Hillary Clinton - this is about a U.S. Marine named Jason Brezler. Four years ago, Brezler sent an urgent message to a fellow Marine in Afghanistan warning him about a threat. The warning was not heeded³. And two weeks later, three U.S. troops were dead. Now, the Marine Corps⁴ is trying to kick Brezler out because the warning used classified information. NPR veterans correspondent Quil Lawrence has the story.

QUIL LAWRENCE, BYLINE⁵: Jason Brezler deployed⁶ four times, including a tour of urban combat in Fallujah. In 2010, he was at a remote base in Helmand, Afghanistan. The mission was to support Afghan forces against the Taliban. Brezler says his biggest problem was a corrupt⁷ local police chief.

JASON BREZLER: Sarwar Jan - he was a threat to not only the Afghans but our own Marines.

LAWRENCE: Sarwar Jan was maybe linked to the Taliban. He was also a pedophile who preyed⁸ on local boys, something alarmingly common among Afghan warlords. Recently, there's been a debate about whether U.S. forces should tolerate Afghan allies who keep kids at their barracks. Back in 2010, there was no policy. Brezler couldn't fire Sarwar Jan, but he could kick him off the base.

BREZLER: We put Sarwar Jan on the next helicopter, and once he left, we could've probably had a parade the next day through the bazaar⁹. The Afghans were absolutely elated.

LAWRENCE: Brezler went home. In the summer of 2012, he was in the Marine Reserves and working as a Brooklyn firefighter. On the side, he was getting a master's degree.

BREZLER: So I'm sitting at a conference table in Oklahoma taking, I believe, a public budgeting class, and I received an email, and the title was "Sarwar Jan Is Back" - all caps, exclamation¹⁰ point, exclamation point.

LAWRENCE: It was a forwarded request for information from a Marine in Helmand. Sarwar Jan was living on a U.S. base again. He'd brought a small group of underage Afghan boys to serve him there.

BREZLER: And my reaction, it was largely a visceral one. I was like, are you freaking kidding me?

LAWRENCE: Brezler searched his laptop - it was the same one he'd had with him in Helmand - and he found the dossier on Sarwar Jan. He hit reply all and send. That set off a chain of consequences but not the one Brezler intended.

MIKE BOWE: As soon as he sends it, and then the Marine on the other side in Afghanistan says, this is marked classified.

LAWRENCE: That's Jason Brezler's lawyer, Mike Bowe. He sat in on our interview.

BOWE: And so at the first break during class, he calls on his cellphone to his CO and he says, look, this is what just happened. So he self-reports right away like he's supposed to do.

BREZLER: My boss, my battalion¹¹ commander, who at that point professionally I had known for several years - we had served in Fallujah together at the height of the insurgency¹² - and he said, all right, it sounds like minor¹³ spillage.

BOWE: He explained it all to his CO. His CO told him to report it to the intelligence officer. They counseled him, said, OK, well, you know, you shouldn't have done that. The NCIS concluded within a few months that, yes, technically¹⁴ there was a violation¹⁵ of the rules, but no action needed to be taken.

LAWRENCE: Amid all the investigations¹⁶ into Brezler's handling of classified material, the warning he sent got lost. Seventeen days later in Helmand, one of Sarwar Jan's underaged servants grabbed an assault rifle and shot dead three unarmed Marines at the base gymnasium.

BREZLER: I don't know if I've ever been so angry and so sad at the same moment in my life. I mean, this is precisely¹⁷ what we didn't want to happen.

LAWRENCE: Brezler felt worse a few months later when he heard that the parents of one of the murdered Marines had no details about their son's death. They were asking help from their congressman¹⁸, New York Republican Pete King.

BREZLER: And it was at that point that I said to myself this isn't OK. And that family probably don't even really know this attack was in the preventible range.

LAWRENCE: Brezler met with Congressman King, and King started pushing the issue, and that got some press. And that's when the U.S. Marine Corps got serious about investigating Jason Brezler. Here's Brezler's lawyer again.

BOWE: Almost a year had gone by, and he had moved on, the Marine Corps had moved on. And then a new story comes out that reveals that he's talking to Congressman King about these murders. And three days later, he is sent to a board of inquiry¹⁹ to be kicked out of the Marine Corps.

LAWRENCE: Bowe says there were hundreds of similar cases of spillage in the same year, and only two were punished. The inquiry was retaliation²⁰, he says, for embarrassing the Marine brass²¹. A Pentagon inspector²² general report concluded it was not retaliation.

BREZLER: On day three of the hearing, the BOI, the board recommended that I be separated with an honorable discharge.

LAWRENCE: That's an honorable discharge - no real loss of benefits. Jason Brezler just wouldn't be a Marine anymore.

BREZLER: A huge punch in the gut²³. In light of my very strong desire to continue to serve and lead Marines, it didn't feel honorable.

LAWRENCE: A spokesman said the Marine Corps has confidence in legal and administrative²⁴ processes against Jason Brezler but declined to comment further because the case is ongoing²⁵. Brezler sued in federal court to stay in the Marines. The case could go to trial this fall. Quil Lawrence, NPR News.

1 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

2 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

3 heeded   

v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的过去式和过去分词 )；变平，使（某物）变平( flatten的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She countered that her advice had not been heeded. 她反驳说她的建议未被重视。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I heeded my doctor's advice and stopped smoking. 我听从医生的劝告，把烟戒了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

7 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

8 preyed   

v.掠食( prey的过去式和过去分词 )；掠食；折磨；（人）靠欺诈为生

参考例句：

• Remorse preyed upon his mind. 悔恨使他内心痛苦。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He had been unwise and it preyed on his conscience. 他做得不太明智，这一直让他良心不安。 来自辞典例句

9 bazaar   

n.集市，商店集中区

参考例句：

• Chickens,goats and rabbits were offered for barter at the bazaar.在集市上，鸡、山羊和兔子被摆出来作物物交换之用。
• We bargained for a beautiful rug in the bazaar.我们在集市通过讨价还价买到了一条很漂亮的地毯。

10 exclamation   

n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词

参考例句：

• He could not restrain an exclamation of approval.他禁不住喝一声采。
• The author used three exclamation marks at the end of the last sentence to wake up the readers.作者在文章的最后一句连用了三个惊叹号，以引起读者的注意。

11 battalion   

n.营；部队；大队(的人)

参考例句：

• The town was garrisoned by a battalion.该镇由一营士兵驻守。
• At the end of the drill parade,the battalion fell out.操练之后，队伍解散了。

12 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

13 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

14 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

15 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

16 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

17 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

18 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

19 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

20 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。

22 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

23 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

24 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

25 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。