美国国家公共电台 NPR--Looking back on shocking revelations: U.S. forces tortured Iraqis at Abu Ghraib

Looking back on shocking revelations: U.S. forces tortured Iraqis at Abu Ghraib

Transcript¹

A grim reminder² of the U.S. invasion of Iraq was the torture of Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison. A survivor³ describes his life since then.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Some of the ugliest images of the American invasion of Iraq 20 years ago came in 2004 in photos taken at the Abu Ghraib prison. And a warning to our listeners, this story contains graphic⁴ descriptions of the torture of prisoners in U.S. incarceration⁵. The photos were shocking. And what happened haunts former detainees. American troops stripped Iraqi prisoners naked. They leashed them and forced them into contorted or sexual positions. NPR's Ruth Sherlock has this report from Baghdad.

(CROSSTALK)

RUTH SHERLOCK, BYLINE⁶: It's been almost two decades since Talib al-Majli (ph) came out of Abu Ghraib prison, but it could have been yesterday. Desperately⁷ thin still, with dark circles around his eyes, Majli bites at the skin of his wrist, a nervous tic he developed in the prison.

TALIB AL-MAJLI: (Speaking Arabic).

SHERLOCK: "The time I spent in Abu Ghraib, it ended my life. I'm only half a human now," Majli says.

Is it OK to take a picture?

He shows me his prison card and other documents. He was detained on the 31st of October, 2003, and became Prisoner 152516 in Abu Ghraib. Through an interpreter, he tells me about some of the abuse.

MAJLI: (Through interpreter) They torturing us. They making us naked. Sometimes they throw that sound grenades on our cells. And sometimes they use the shotguns. And they killed two of prisoners. And they used these dogs to terrifying us. They flooded our cells with water.

SHERLOCK: One photo that shocked people around the world when it was published in 2004 shows naked detainees with bags over their heads piled on top of each other in a grotesque⁸ human pyramid. One American soldier grins, another gives a thumbs up. Majli says he believes he is one of the men in that photo.

MAJLI: (Speaking Arabic).

SHERLOCK: Does he remember what he was thinking and what he felt when he was in that pile?

MAJLI: (Speaking Arabic).

SHERLOCK: I wished for death, Majli tells me. I would rather have been dead than to be in that position. There was other demeaning treatment, too, like being poked⁹ with a stick in his genitals. One day, Majli tried to appeal to a soldier, to say he was innocent and that he should be let go. They put him in solitary¹⁰ confinement¹¹ for a week.

MAJLI: (Speaking Arabic).

SHERLOCK: Majli says he was detained when he was simply visiting an uncle. He swears he never took part in the insurgency¹² against the U.S. He was eventually released after one year and four months with no charges against him. U.S. military intelligence officers later told the International Committee for the Red Cross that as many as 90% of Iraqis detained were actually arrested by mistake.

MAJLI: (Speaking Arabic).

SHERLOCK: Majli says when the U.S. invasion began, he wanted to thank George Bush from the bottom of his heart for removing Saddam Hussein from power. But he says, this good deed became my curse.

(CROSSTALK)

SHERLOCK: Now in his 50s, Majli lives with his two adult sons in a home made of two rooms with an outside toilet in a slum in Baghdad. On the day we visited, water from the rain pooled on the mud street outside.

MAJLI: (Speaking Arabic).

SHERLOCK: Majli has moved many times since his release from Abu Ghraib, sometimes in search of work, but also because of the stigma¹³ he says he felt from his neighbors when they learned of the degrading treatment he suffered.

MAJLI: (Speaking Arabic).

SHERLOCK: But it's not his fault. It was something that was done to him.

MAJLI: (Speaking Arabic).

SHERLOCK: Majli acknowledges this but says other people didn't see it this way. His boys quit their school because they were so badly bullied¹⁴. And he says his wife left him because she was embarrassed. Since his release, he says he suffered from depression he self-harms.

MAJLI: (Speaking Arabic).

SHERLOCK: Bite marks up and down his arms.

MAJLI: (Speaking Arabic).

SHERLOCK: He works odd jobs, hanging signs for companies, sometimes earning around $30 per week.

If he had to summarize what the experience and this imprisonment¹⁵ did to his life, what would he say?

MAJLI: (Through interpreter) I lost my family, destroyed my health situation, destroyed my living situation, destroyed everything for me. And I always feel I was humiliated¹⁶.

SHERLOCK: Majli tried for years to find ways to get compensation from the U.S.

MAJLI: (Speaking Arabic).

SHERLOCK: But he had no money to hire a lawyer. And when he went to the Iraqi Bar Association, they told him they didn't deal with these kinds of cases. The Iraqi Ministry¹⁷ for Human Rights confirmed he'd been a prisoner in Abu Ghraib, but that was all. A U.S. military official now, who didn't want to be named because he wasn't approved to speak, speculated that Majli should have been able to apply to the U.S. military for condolence payments sometimes made in conflict. It was difficult for Iraqis to apply for compensation in those years. Baher Azmy, a lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, says the U.S. hasn't been making payments to victims of torture and that this violates international law. Instead, it's been...

BAHER AZMY: Denying compensation for victims of torture in Abu Ghraib and in CIA black sites, denying compensation to those who the United States quite literally¹⁸ kidnapped and spirited away under the extraordinary rendition program to third countries.

SHERLOCK: Eleven soldiers were convicted of crimes in Abu Ghraib. And Azmy did manage to secure some compensation for some other Abu Ghraib victims, but only from a private security firm whose translators operated in the prison and not from the U.S. military. Azmy didn't know about Majli but says the case sounds consistent with others. But he probably can't get compensation now.

AZMY: It's heartbreaking, but I think it's too late.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOG BARKING)

MAJLI: (Speaking Arabic).

SHERLOCK: Majli says not a day goes by without him thinking about what happened to him. It's as if his life is frozen in time by his need for justice or some kind of recognition. He says this is why he's talking to me.

MAJLI: (Speaking Arabic).

SHERLOCK: I want to make this a matter of public opinion, to ask for my rights, even, he says, just for an apology.

Ruth Sherlock, NPR News, Baghdad.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

3 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

4 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

5 incarceration   

n.监禁，禁闭；钳闭

参考例句：

• He hadn't changed much in his nearly three years of incarceration. 在将近三年的监狱生活中，他变化不大。 来自辞典例句
• Please, please set it free before it bursts from its long incarceration! 请你，请你将这颗心释放出来吧！否则它会因长期的禁闭而爆裂。 来自辞典例句

6 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。

7 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

8 grotesque   

adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物）

参考例句：

• His face has a grotesque appearance.他的面部表情十分怪。
• Her account of the incident was a grotesque distortion of the truth.她对这件事的陈述是荒诞地歪曲了事实。

9 poked   

v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
• His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 solitary   

adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士

参考例句：

• I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
• The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际，显得十分壮美。

11 confinement   

n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限

参考例句：

• He spent eleven years in solitary confinement.他度过了11年的单独监禁。
• The date for my wife's confinement was approaching closer and closer.妻子分娩的日子越来越近了。

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 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

14 bullied   

adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My son is being bullied at school. 我儿子在学校里受欺负。
• The boy bullied the small girl into giving him all her money. 那男孩威逼那个小女孩把所有的钱都给他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

16 humiliated   

感到羞愧的

参考例句：

• Parents are humiliated if their children behave badly when guests are present. 子女在客人面前举止失当，父母也失体面。
• He was ashamed and bitterly humiliated. 他感到羞耻，丢尽了面子。

17 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

18 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。