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【原文标题】Missing Iraq money may have been stolen, auditors say
【中文标题】审计人员称去向不明的伊拉克援建资金可能已被盗
【登载媒体】洛杉矶时报
【来源地址】http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-missing-billions-20110613,0,4414060.story
【译 者】朱朱
【翻译方式】 人工
【声 明】 本翻译供Anti-CNN使用，未经AC或译者许可，不得转载。
【译 文】
U.S. Defense officials still cannot say what happened to $6.6 billion, sent by the planeload in cash and intended for Iraq's reconstruction after the start of the war.
伊拉克战争爆发后美国空运到伊拉克的用于伊拉克重建的66亿美元援助现今到底哪去了？美国国防部现在还是说不清楚。
After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, the George W. Bush administration flooded the conquered country with so much cash to pay for reconstruction and other projects in the first year that a new unit of measurement was born.
2003年美国领导了入侵伊拉克的军事活动，伊战后的第一年，乔治•W•布什政府对这个被征服的国家注入了如此一大笔现金用于重建和其他工程，以至于创建了一个度量的新单位。
Pentagon officials determined that one giant C-130 Hercules cargo plane could carry $2.4 billion in shrink-wrapped bricks of $100 bills. They sent an initial full planeload of cash, followed by 20 other flights to Iraq by May 2004 in a $12-billion haul that U.S. officials believe to be the biggest international cash airlift of all time.
五角大楼官员决定一架C-130“大力神”运输机装满一沓沓百元大钞，共计24亿美元。他们先是派出一架装得满满的运钞飞机，然后又陆续派出20架运钞飞机。截至2004年5月，美国共往伊拉克空运现金120亿美元。美国官员认为，如此大规模的空运现金在世界上是前所未有的。
This month, the Pentagon and the Iraqi government are finally closing the books on the program that handled all those Benjamins. But despite years of audits and investigations, U.S. Defense officials still cannot say what happened to $6.6 billion in cash — enough to run the Los Angeles Unified School District or the Chicago Public Schools for a year, among many other things.
本月，五角大楼与伊拉克政府正在为这个给幸运儿发钱的项目最终结账。但是尽管做了多年的审计和调查，美国国防部官员还是说不清楚那66亿美元现金哪里去了，这笔钱够洛杉矶学区或芝加哥公立学校或其他类似的机构用一年。
For the first time, federal auditors are suggesting that some or all of the cash may have been stolen, not just mislaid in an accounting error. Stuart Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, an office created by Congress, said the missing $6.6 billion may be "the largest theft of funds in national history."
联邦审计员首次表示，这笔现金中的一部分或全部可能已经被盗，不只是在账目上丢失。Stuart Bowen是伊拉克重建的特派监察长，这个办公室由国会建立，Stuart Bowen称这66亿美元的不翼而飞或许是美国有史以来最严重的一起国家资金被盗案。
The mystery is a growing embarrassment to the Pentagon, and an irritant to Washington's relations with Baghdad. Iraqi officials are threatening to go to court to reclaim the money, which came from Iraqi oil sales, seized Iraqi assets and surplus funds from the United Nations' oil-for-food program.
这个事件的神秘之处在于，66亿美元不翼而飞让五角大楼很尴尬，也让与华盛顿与巴格达的关系遭遇了讽刺。伊拉克官员威胁说，将诉诸法庭声明对这笔资金的权利，因为这笔资金来自于伊拉克石油销售、被占领的伊拉克资产以及联合国石油换食物计划的盈余资金。
It's fair to say that Congress, which has already shelled out $61 billion of U.S. taxpayer money for similar reconstruction and development projects in Iraq, is none too thrilled either.
客观地讲，已经在伊拉克为类似的重建或发展计划捐出610亿美元的国会也不会很开心吧！
"Congress is not looking forward to having to spend billions of our money to make up for billions of their money that we can't account for, and can't seem to find," said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills), who presided over hearings on waste, fraud and abuse in Iraq six years ago when he headed the House Government Reform Committee.
六年前主持听证伊拉克资金浪费、欺诈和滥用的听证会的Henry A. Waxman表示：“国会并不期待花费数十亿美元来弥补那些我们无法解释，也似乎无法找到的资金。”
Theft of such a staggering sum might seem unlikely, but U.S. officials aren't ruling it out. Some U.S. contractors were accused of siphoning off tens of millions in kickbacks and graft during the post-invasion period, especially in its chaotic early days. But Iraqi officials were viewed as prime offenders.
盗窃这样一比数目大得令人吃惊得资金看似不可能，但美国官员并不排除这种可能。一些美国承包商就被控告在对伊入侵后的阶段，尤其是早期混乱的时期，通过收受回扣和贪污吞掉了数千万美元的资金。但是伊拉克的官员被视为主要的黑手。
The U.S. cash airlift was a desperation measure, organized when the Bush administration was eager to restore government services and a shattered economy to give Iraqis confidence that the new order would be a drastic improvement on Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
美国空运现金也是权宜之计，当时美国政府急切希望恢复政府职能重建破碎的经济，让伊拉克人相信，新的秩序与萨达姆领导的伊拉克相比有着巨大的优越性。
The White House decided to use the money in the so-called Development Fund for Iraq, which was created by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to hold money amassed during the years when Hussein's regime was under crippling economic and trade sanctions.
白宫决定把这笔钱用作伊拉克发展基金，这个基金由纽约联邦储备银行建立，在萨达姆政权遭遇经济和贸易制裁时保证积累资金。
The cash was carried by tractor-trailer trucks from the fortress-like Federal Reserve currency repository in East Rutherford, N.J., to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, then flown to Baghdad. U.S. officials there stored the hoard in a basement vault at one of Hussein's former palaces, and at U.S. military bases, and eventually distributed the money to Iraqi ministries and contractors.
这笔现金被卡车由位于新泽西东卢瑟福的类似要塞一样的联邦储备货币仓库运出，送到马里兰的安德鲁空军基地，然后非为巴格达。美国驻巴格达的官员随后将这些现金存到萨达姆以前宫殿的地下室、美国军事基地，最终把这些钱分配给伊拉克各部门及承包商。
But U.S. officials often didn't have time or staff to keep strict financial controls. Millions of dollars were stuffed in gunnysacks and hauled on pickups to Iraqi agencies or contractors, officials have testified.
美国官员表明，他们没有时间也没有人员来进行严格的财政监督。数百万的美元被塞进麻袋、拖上皮卡车送到伊拉克政府部门及承包商那里。
House Government Reform Committee investigators charged in 2005 that U.S. officials "used virtually no financial controls to account for these enormous cash withdrawals once they arrived in Iraq, and there is evidence of substantial waste, fraud and abuse in the actual spending and disbursement of the Iraqi funds."
众议院政府改革委员会调查员2005年控诉道，美国官员在这笔巨额资金到达伊拉克被提取过程中基本没有采取任何财政监管措施，而且证据显示对这笔资金的实际支出和分配中，存在着严重的浪费、欺诈和滥用现象。
Pentagon officials have contended for the last six years that they could account for the money if given enough time to track down the records. But repeated attempts to find the documentation, or better yet the cash, were fruitless.
五角大楼官员在过去六年里一直争辩道，如果给他们足够的时间来追踪到账目记录，他们就能找到这笔钱。但是对这些文件或是现金的不断寻找徒劳无功。
Iraqi officials argue that the U.S. government was supposed to safeguard the stash under a 2004 legal agreement it signed with Iraq. That makes Washington responsible, they say.
伊拉克官员称，美国政府本应该根据2004年与伊拉克签订的法律协议来守卫这笔资金的贮藏处。他们说，华盛顿要对此负责。
Abdul Basit Turki Saeed, Iraq's chief auditor and president of the Iraqi Board of Supreme Audit, has warned U.S. officials that his government will go to court if necessary to recoup the missing money.
Abdul Basit Turki Saeed是伊拉克的主要审计人员，也是伊拉克最高审计委员会的主席，他警告美国官员道，如果需要，他的政府将诉诸法庭要求美国赔偿这笔资金。
"Clearly Iraq has an interest in looking after its assets and protecting them," said Samir Sumaidaie, Iraq's ambassador to the United States.
伊拉克驻美大使Samir Sumaidaie说：“很明显，伊拉克有兴趣照料和保护好自己的资产。” |
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发表于 2011-6-15 21:48
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