PBS高端访谈:关于ISIS视频中人质的命运

 　　HARI SREENIVASAN, PBS NEWSHOUR WEEKEND ANCHOR: After days of negotiations¹ for a prisoner exchange apparently² broke down, ISIS today reportedly executed a Japanese journalist it had been holding hostage in Syria. Just last weekend, ISIS also beheaded another Japanese citizen it had captured. There was no immediate³ word about the fate of the Jordanian pilot ISIS is also holding.

　　The Islamic extremist group had been demanding that Jordan set free a woman implicated⁴ in a 2005 bombing attack in Amman that killed 60 people in exchange for the hostages.

　　For more about this, we are joined now from Washington by Douglas Ollivant. He is a senior national security fellow at the New America Foundation and a partner at Mantid International.

　　So, Douglas, what does this tell you? There was almost a moment of– a window of opportunity there where there was a conversation going on with ISIS. There was some potential and some possibility. That seems over.

　　DOUGLAS OLLIVANT, PARTNER, MANTID INTL.: It does — it is, obviously, over, lamentably⁵, for both of these Japanese hostages. And, of course, our sympathies are with these families, but this does seem to be increasingly common place. Once the negotiations become public, once someone appears in one of these videos, that seems to mean the negotiations have broken down. We know there have been other hostages who have paid ransom⁶ and have been evacuated⁷ from the country, but it seems like once you come to this level of being in a video, we've not seen very many happy endings.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: So, Doug, what happens next after this beheading or other beheadings like this?

　　DOUGLAS OLLIVANT: Well, lamentably, for the near future, there's not very much we can do about the Islamic State and the territory it holds. The Iraqi army is not yet ready to retake even the portion of terrain⁸ they hold on the Iraqi side of the border, and it's very well-known that the plan for Syria would have to be subsequent to that, and we still don't know exactly what that looks like. So, in the interim⁹, if you're a hostage held by the Islamic State or ISIS, there's just not very much a Western government can do for you right now.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: OK, let's talk a little bit bigger picture about this war on ISIS that's continuing. There were another 27 airstrikes today against different ISIS positions. Are they having an impact?

　　DOUGLAS OLLIVANT: They are having an impact. We've had some good news in the past few weeks. The Kurds seem to have decisively recaptured the town of Kobani, although if we now look at the pictures that are coming out there, this town is devastated¹⁰. It looks like a Stalingrad or Hiroshima, or a Dresden. It's decimated. It's just a ruin. But we have taken it back.

　　And then in Iraq, we have seen a push from the south by the Iraqi army in Samarra, in Diyala, and Anbar, even, and certainly from the north with the Kurds.

　　We are seeing some movement towards Mosul and the area surrounding Mosul, and not the city itself yet.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Right. This at the same time there were also attacks by Islamic State fighters on Kirkuk, which was a little bit of a surprise.

　　DOUGLAS OLLIVANT: That's right. We saw push-back in Kirkuk. It appears no one has ever said these guys aren't smart. It appears they used some bad weather when they knew that there wouldn't be surveillance and when the U.S. Air Force couldn't strike them, to attack into Kirkuk, had some initial success, and then it appears once the weather cleared, that air strikes and the push back from the Kurdish forces pushed them out of this town.

　　I think we're going to see more of this. We should expect, you know, ebbs¹¹ and flows in this fight in northern Iraq and elsewhere.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: You know, there were also reports in the last couple of days about ISIS fighters in Mosul ransacking¹² libraries, and really trying to decimate any history that existed in that area. I mean, we're talking everything from Ottoman Empire maps to burning books and bonfires.

　　DOUGLAS OLLIVANT: That's right. This seems to have a dual¹³ purpose. In one sense, they are looting whole scale and selling artifacts on the black market to raise money. But where they seem to not have any value, we're seeing destruction. We saw the destruction earlier of the tomb of Jonah. We've seen tales of these books being burned. There is a very historic wall that is evidently being torn down, blown up, destroyed.

　　There's this iconoclastic¹⁴ movement inside the Islamic State that wants to destroy all history of not only pre-Islamic but even Islamic history in the area. They're just absolutely opposed to any type of monument or cultural thing that isn't just reading the Koran straight and living in a very primitive¹⁵ manner.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: So, there was also news this week about an Iraqi that was killed and his connection to making chemical weapons. How significant or how real is that threat?

　　DOUGLAS OLLIVANT: Well, it's difficult to know. Certainly, Abu Malik is an interesting character. He's both a former Baathist who worked for Saddam Hussein and moved over to work for, first, al Qaeda and then ISIS, which really does show this unit they we're starting to see between the former regime and ISIS. But he's also a chemical weapons engineer. He had worked inside Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons program and was evidently trying to put together some equipment.

　　Now, I think most experts think the Islamic state can't put together a comprehensive chemical weapons program as in, you know, launching shells or anything, but they could certainly put precursor¹⁶ chemicals or industrial chemicals inside their explosive devices, their IEDs and make life much more complicated for forces that run into them in battle.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: All right. Doug Ollivant of Mantid International, joining us from Washington — thanks so much.

　　DOUGLAS OLLIVANT: Thank you, Hari.

1 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

2 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

3 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

4 implicated   

adj.密切关联的；牵涉其中的

参考例句：

• These groups are very strongly implicated in the violence. 这些组织与这起暴力事件有着极大的关联。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Having the stolen goods in his possession implicated him in the robbery. 因藏有赃物使他涉有偷盗的嫌疑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 lamentably   

adv.哀伤地，拙劣地

参考例句：

• Aviation was lamentably weak and primitive. 航空设施极其薄弱简陋。 来自辞典例句
• Poor Tom lamentably disgraced himself at Sir Charles Mirable's table, by premature inebriation. 可怜的汤姆在查尔斯·米拉贝尔爵士的宴会上，终于入席不久就酩酊大醉，弄得出丑露乖，丢尽了脸皮。 来自辞典例句

6 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

7 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

8 terrain   

n.地面，地形，地图

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• He knows the terrain of this locality like the back of his hand.他对这一带的地形了如指掌。

9 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

10 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

11 ebbs   

退潮( ebb的名词复数 )； 落潮； 衰退

参考例句：

• When the tide ebbs it's a rock pool inhabited by crustaceans. 退潮时，它便成为甲壳动物居住的岩石区潮水潭。
• The new Russia steadily ebbs away drive out of Moscow. 驶离莫斯科愈来愈远以后，俄罗斯崭新的景象也逐渐消失。

12 ransacking   

v.彻底搜查( ransack的现在分词 )；抢劫，掠夺

参考例句：

• She was ransacking the stores for Jim's present. 她正在彻底搜寻各家店铺，为吉姆买礼物。 来自英汉文学 - 欧亨利
• Ransacking the drawers of the dresser he came upon a discarded, tiny, ragged handkerchief. 他打开橱柜抽屉搜寻，找到了一块弃置的小旧手帕。 来自辞典例句

13 dual   

adj.双的；二重的，二元的

参考例句：

• The people's Republic of China does not recognize dual nationality for any Chinese national.中华人民共和国不承认中国公民具有双重国籍。
• He has dual role as composer and conductor.他兼作曲家及指挥的双重身分。

14 iconoclastic   

adj.偶像破坏的，打破旧习的

参考例句：

• His iconoclastic tendencies can get him into trouble. 他与传统信仰相悖的思想倾向可能会给他带来麻烦。 来自辞典例句
• The film is an iconoclastic allegory. 电影是一个关于破坏的寓言。 来自互联网

15 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

16 precursor   

n.先驱者；前辈；前任；预兆；先兆

参考例句：

• Error is often the precursor of what is correct.错误常常是正确的先导。
• He said that the deal should not be seen as a precursor to a merger.他说该笔交易不应该被看作是合并的前兆。