经济学人下载:扼杀了他的梦想

Osama bin Laden

Now, kill his dream
扼杀了他的梦想

Osama bin Laden’s brand of brutal jihad is losing its appeal in the Arab world
本拉登的野蛮圣战呼声在阿拉伯国家减弱

A FEW bullets were enough. But the shots that killed Osama bin Laden in the dead of night on May 2nd in a fortified compound not far from Islamabad came after 15 years of dogged pursuit, two long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, well over $1 trillion of spending and around 150,000 deaths. It is a heavy reckoning for one man’s life.

几发子弹绰绰有余。5月2日晚，本拉登在伊斯兰郊区的寓所内被射杀身亡。经过15年不屈不挠地追踪，经历过伊朗和阿富汗两场持久战，花了超过万亿美元的费用，有大约15万人口的死亡。这些付出对于一个区区人命来说，实在是太沉重了。

Barack Obama, America’s president, will justifiably savor a moment so dearly bought. A reluctant warrior in other ways, he has not wavered in hunting down the foot soldiers and commanders of al-Qaeda as well as its elusive leader. The president chose a manned assault directly on Mr bin Laden rather than an air strike on his compound, as some of his advisers wished, and it paid off. Mr Obama was lucky, but he made his luck—and he deserves the credit that will now come his way (see Lexington).

美国总统奥巴马尽情地享受这个如此昂贵的时刻也在情理之中。从其它方面看，奥巴马并非是个勇士，他并不穷追猛打基地组织的步兵和指挥官，以及他们行事神秘的领导人。奥巴马选择直接袭击本拉登，他没有通过参与空袭增加他的砝码——就像他的谋士给他的建议一样，他的做法获得了收益。奥巴马是幸运的，但是，他的运气给他带来了预期的声望。

Mr Obama has been careful to warn that violent Islamism is still a dangerous force. Al-Qaeda is active, even without Mr bin Laden (see article). The alarming problems of Pakistan, Yemen and so many other places threaten to feed more violence. And yet the death of the world’s most wanted man comes just when radical Islam looks vulnerable to the changes sweeping across the Middle East and North Africa. The task now facing all those who yearn for a safer world is to isolate Mr bin Laden’s savage jihad just as surely as its creator was isolated behind his compound walls.

奥巴马小心翼翼地告诫，暴力的伊斯兰仍旧很危险。即使没有本拉登，基地组织还是很活跃的。巴基斯坦、也门和很多其它的地区很让人担忧，这些地方是个威胁，他们孕育着更多的恐怖力量。然而， 正值激进的伊斯兰面对横扫整个中东和北非的动乱而表现出比较脆弱的当口，世界上的头号通缉犯本拉登死期到了。现在，那些渴望和平的人们当前要做的是跟本拉登的粗暴的圣战运动撇清关系，就像它的创建者本拉登藏在层层高墙里面一样。