经济学人下载:回家的路还长着呢

The damage he did
本拉登带来的伤痛

Nations, however, do not heal in the same way that people do. It will take much more than this to help America as a whole recover from the harm Mr bin Laden inflicted. That harm extends beyond the lives lost that day, or in the costly and bloody wars that followed in Iraq and Afghanistan. A full audit of the damage must include the deep change he wrought in America itself.

不管怎样，整个民族，不会像普通民众那样恢复过来。美国需要付出更多来使整个国家从本拉登酿造的阴影中走出来。这片阴影绝不只是911当天丧生的民众或者伊拉克战争和阿富汗战争带来的经济和人员损失。全面看待这笔伤害还包括美国自身深层的变化。

At home, a new generation is coming of age with little memory of the more open and trusting America of ten years ago. The new America keeps looking over its shoulder. It is permanently vigilant and relentlessly intrusive. Few people complain about the security-inspired hassles that have infected everyday activities, from boarding an airliner to applying for some required government document. Safety first is, understandably, the order of the day in a world in which killers hide bombs in their shoes and underpants. But the cumulative result of all these precautions is a wretched thing. A culture of suspicion, and its accompanying bureaucracy, take away trust in your fellow man. A less tolerant America, whose prosperity was built on openness to the world, has shut down its borders and locked out many of the skilled and eager immigrants whose help it could dearly use.

在国内，新一代的美国人对十年前更加开放信任的美国印象越来越少了。他们更倾向于相信他们自己看到的美国，并且这些印象会先入为主一直留在他们心里。有人认为对于安全的争论沁入到人们每天的生活：从登机到申请政府文件。可以理解，安全第一，成了当今世界的日常议程，恐怖主义者很有可能把炸弹藏在他们的鞋子或者内衣里。不过好像所有的预防措施都没有太好的效果。怀疑成风，官官勾结已令民众不再信任。曾经开放包容的美国，如今关上了国门，拒绝众多技术和投资移民。

How much of this can be reversed? A lot depends on whether people and their politicians see the value in trying. Early excesses in the war on terrorism, such as waterboarding, warrantless wiretapping and “extraordinary renditions”, have been stopped or rolled back. America’s strong Bill of Rights, respect for the law and tradition of liberty have helped to hold the goons and snoopers at bay. But fear, and the awful deeds that fear inspires, are hard to uproot. Americans are already quarrelling about whether it was waterboarding, now banned, that produced the tip that led the CIA to Abbottabad. With Mr bin Laden in his watery grave, a chapter may close. But the country he attacked faces a long road home to the more innocent place it was ten years ago.

为何本拉登会有这么大的作用？很大程度上在于民众及他们的政治领袖是否看重努力的价值。之前对战争恐怖行为的惩罚，如反恐水刑，窃听装置和“特别引渡”，已被停止或取消。美国强大的权利法案，对法律和自由的保持尊重，有助于那些在海湾的暴徒和窥探者的行动。然而，内心真正的担忧依然无法消除。当下，美国人正在热议，水刑是否真的取消了，中央情报局可能因为阿伯塔巴德而重新使用。随着本拉登的水刑，恐怖主义可告一段落了。然而，曾被本拉登袭击的美国将面对一条更加漫长的道路，这条路，可比十年前无奈多了。