讣告;亚历山大·黑格

　　Alexander Meigs Haig, soldier and public servant, died on February 20th, aged 85

　　军人、公仆亚历山大·梅格斯·黑格于2月20号逝世，享年85岁

　　Grant and Eisenhower aside, America is uneasy about handing civil power to soldiers; and from the very start of the Reagan administration, in 1981, there was nothing Al Haig could do to erase the impression that he wished to take over the country. At his confirmation hearings for the post of secretary of state he rode roughshod over his interrogators (“No one has a monopoly on virtue, not even you, senator”). He let slip that he wanted to be the “vicar” of foreign policy, a word with pope-size pretensions. The press pinned on him the word “arrogant”, and never removed it. His picture appeared on the cover of Time, chin high and arms akimbo, above the words “Taking Command”.

　　除了格兰特和艾森豪威尔，美国不放心把公民权交到其他军人手里；从1981年里根政府上任伊始，阿尔·黑格就没有摆脱希望接管国家大权的印象。在就任国务卿的听证会上，他对质询者出言不逊（“谁也不能独占伦理道德，连你也办不到，参议员”）。他无意中说想当外交政策的“主教”，这个称号真是自命不凡。新闻界始终如一地讥讽他“盛气凌人”。他的照片登上过《时代》杂志的封面，仰着下巴、双手叉腰，上面写着“由我做主”。

　　This portrayal was not without foundation. It was well known that in 1973-74, as Richard Nixon crumbled under the weight of Watergate, General Haig, then chief of staff in succession to the disgraced H.R. Haldeman, kept the administration functioning. He advised Nixon how to deal with his enemies, and when to resign; he suggested to Gerald Ford that he should pardon his predecessor. His power was such that when Nixon appeared to ask him for a way out of his turmoil, “a pistol in the drawer”, he immediately ordered the president's doctors to take away his pills.

　　这种形象不是毫无根据。众所周知，1973到1974年间，理查德·尼克松受到水门事件的影响，黑格将军接替声名狼藉的霍尔德曼任白宫办公厅主任，维持政府正常运作。他劝尼克松对付政敌、及时隐退；他建议杰拉德·福特特赦尼克松。他位高权重，尼克松求他找出路摆脱谣言时说“抽屉里有把枪”，黑格立即吩咐医生把总统的药拿走。

　　Most of the time, however, though ambition burned through him like a fire, he had no interest in the office of the presidency. A disastrous foray in 1988, flaring out before New Hampshire, was as far as he went in that direction. He had no politicians' sleazy graces, and was proud of that. The brusque attitude and tone had been instilled at West Point, together with the gimlet stare and the preference for dealing with America's adversaries, whether Cubans, Palestinians or leftist Nicaraguans, with a bombing run or an invasion. His duties at the White House, on Henry Kissinger's National Security Council and for Nixon, had been carried out while still under military orders and earned him a dizzy ascent, from colonel to four-star general in four years. His scar tissue came from battles both actual and political.

　　尽管他心中涌动雄心壮志，大多数时候却对总统办公室毫无兴趣。1988年，他在新罕布什尔州投票前退出党内初选，就此远离政坛。他没有政治家的龌龊嘴脸，并为此自豪。他在西点军校养成了态度鲁莽、谈吐直率的品质，目光犀利，一向以轰炸进攻来对付美国敌手，不管是古巴、巴基斯坦还是左派支持的尼加拉瓜。他曾在白宫担任亨利·基辛格的国家安全顾问，四年间从上校升至四星上将。他在军事战斗和政治斗争中都伤痕累累。

　　As a soldier, he believed in certain rules of behaviour. First, the need to keep secrets and not go leaking to the newspapers, for soldiers died when secrets came into the enemy's possession. And second, to follow the chain of command. Foreign policy in particular required a single source, one clear voice speaking for America. The greatest danger in those cold-war years was to show the Soviet enemy a soft, disunited front. The Soviets would surge through then, expanding their troublemaking and missile-rattling round the globe, just as the Chinese and North Koreans had driven through the “foolishly divided” front at the Yalu river in 1950, leaving 12,000 Americans dead or wounded in the ice, when he was a young lieutenant.

　　身为军人，他坚信某些行为准则。首先，要保守秘密，不消息泄露给报刊，对军人而言，至死也不能让秘密落到敌人手里。其次，服从指挥。外交政策尤其需要单一来源，让一个清晰明白的声音代表美国讲话。冷战岁月中最大的危险，是向劲敌苏联暴露出软弱分裂的一面。苏联会趁机崛起，不断制造麻烦，让导弹恐慌遍布全球，如同1950年中国和朝鲜迅速突破“愚蠢划分”的鸭绿江前线，抛下了冰雪中死伤的1.2万名美军，当时黑格还是年轻的陆军中尉。

　　The greatest frustration of high politics, for General Haig, was lack of that one voice. Nixon's White House, besieged by enemies, was mostly undermined by “Deep Throat” leaking to the Washington Post—and though the general had no truck with Watergate, the strong rumour that he himself was Deep Throat offended all his notions of right conduct. Despite his liking for phrases such as “terminological inexactitude”, he was not a dissembler. He was in the more straightforward business of transmitting orders to fire prosecutors, and tapping journalists' phones.

　　对黑格将军而言，身居高位的最大挫败就是没有这个声音。尼克松时代的白宫四面为敌，打击最重的是“深喉”向《华盛顿邮报》爆料，虽然黑格将军与水门事件毫无瓜葛，却有谣言说他自己就是深喉，这有违他的道德准则。尽管他爱用“谎话连篇”这种词，却绝不是伪君子。他做得更多的是传达命令解雇检察官、窃听记者电话这些直截了当的事情。

　　The ghost ship

　　幽灵船

　　He went to Reagan's White House, fresh from a five-year stint as NATO's supreme commander, with, he supposed, a guarantee from the ever genial president that he would be the spokesman on foreign policy (“I'll look to you, Al”). It lasted no longer than his first encounter with James Baker, Michael Deaver and Ed Meese, the president's staffers. Meese put the vital Haig directive for the organisation of foreign policy in his briefcase, where it stayed.

　　他担任北约盟军最高司令官5年后，进入里根时代的白宫，本以为能从和蔼可亲的总统得到保证，担任外交政策发言人（“我就靠你了，阿尔”）。好景不长，他首次遇到了总统幕僚詹姆斯·贝克、米歇尔·迪沃、爱德·米斯。米斯对至关重要的黑格发号施令，独揽外交政策机构大权。

　　There followed Haig explosions right and left over appointments, or statements of policy, which he had not authorised: fearsome times when the general turned purple, pounded the table and roared his displeasure. Turf wars blazed with the NSC and the Pentagon. Eighteen months of this, though punctuated by hard work on arms control and a valiant bout of shuttle diplomacy, in 1982, to try to avert the Falklands war, were more than enough.

　　接下来更令黑格满腔怒火，虽有职务在身、政策说明，他却毫无实权：将军往往气得面红耳赤、敲打桌子、大声咆哮，让人胆战心惊。美国国家安全委员会和五角大楼的争斗愈演愈烈。这18个月真是受够了，他不时要投入军控的繁重工作、多轮穿梭外交，1982年还要避免爆发马岛战争。

　　The moment for which he was best remembered came on March 30th 1981, when Reagan was shot. Sweating and intense, his hands shaking, General Haig declared to the press that “As of now, I am in control here, in the White House, pending return of the vice-president.” Hedged words; but he never lived them down.

　　他被人铭记于心的时刻是1981年3月30日，当天里根被刺。黑格将军大汗淋漓、感情起伏、双手颤抖，向媒体记者宣布：“副总统回来前，目前白宫由我掌控。”这句话让人安心，也从未让人忘记。

　　Some thought he had become unmanageable, and he could give that appearance. But the nub of the matter, as he described it in a calmly lyrical passage of his book, “Caveat”, was this:

　　有人认为他桀骜不驯，他看起来的确如此。至于问题的核心所在，他在平静抒情的著作《告诫》中这般描述：

　　The [Reagan] White House was as mysterious as a ghost ship; you heard the creak of the rigging and the groan of the timbers and sometimes even glimpsed the crew on deck. But which of the crew had the helm?…It was impossible to know…

　　里根时代的白宫像幽灵船一样神秘莫测；你能听到帆缆咯咯作响，船骨吱嘎吱嘎，有时还瞥见甲板上的水手。可是谁在掌舵呢？…根本不可能知道…

　　If someone evidently had the helm, General Haig saluted. If not, rather than let drift and uncertainty give any comfort to America's enemies, he had acquired the habit of seizing the wheel himself.

　　如果的确有过舵手，黑格将军会向他致敬。如果没有舵手，他自己会一把抢过舵轮，而不会改变航向、游移不定，让美国的敌人安心。