Iraq War Enters Sixth Year
伊拉克戰(zhàn)爭五年回顧 仍在平暴

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號，以美國為首的聯(lián)軍攻入伊拉克，推翻了被布什總統(tǒng)指稱研制大規(guī)模殺傷性武器的薩達姆獨裁政權(quán)。但是，在伊拉克沒有找到大規(guī)模殺傷性武器。盡管去年實行的增兵計劃使伊拉克境內(nèi)的暴力事件有所減少，但打擊暴亂活動的戰(zhàn)斗仍在繼續(xù)。

Combat in Iraq, and U.S. troops are still battling insurgents, five years after the invasion.

在對伊戰(zhàn)爭爆發(fā)五年之后，美國軍隊仍在同暴亂分子作戰(zhàn)。

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號凌晨，以美國為首的大約30萬聯(lián)軍向伊拉克發(fā)動進攻。這場戰(zhàn)爭的目的是推翻被美國及其盟友指稱擁有并積極研制大規(guī)模殺傷武器的薩達姆政權(quán)。

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.

在準備發(fā)動戰(zhàn)爭的過程中，當時的美國國務卿鮑威爾在聯(lián)合國安理會說明了向伊拉克開戰(zhàn)的理由。鮑威爾在講話中展示了從空中拍攝的照片，其中的圖像被說成是化學武器所在地以及用于制造神經(jīng)毒氣的移動式實驗室。

"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.

以美國為首的聯(lián)軍很快就完成了對伊戰(zhàn)爭的主要目標，推翻了薩達姆政權(quán)。2003年12月，薩達姆被抓獲。經(jīng)過長時間的審判后，薩達姆于三年后被處死。

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，盡管美國軍人和武器專家組對伊拉克農(nóng)村地區(qū)進行了全面的搜尋，但并沒有找到任何大規(guī)模殺傷武器。人們在2004年明確得知，薩達姆曾經(jīng)擁有的所有大規(guī)模殺傷武器都在上世紀90年代銷毀了。

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.

最初主要由遜尼派穆斯林發(fā)動的暴亂活動不斷增多，大量美國軍人死于路邊炸彈和其他襲擊。伊拉克平民，特別是什葉派穆斯林，也成為襲擊目標，很多人遭到殺害。

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.

戰(zhàn)略及國際研究中心的軍事專家科德斯曼說，布什政府對伊拉克戰(zhàn)爭的善后工作沒有做好準備。

"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."

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