PBS高端访谈:新的战争回忆录

 　　JUDY WOODRUFF: As secretary of defense¹ for both Presidents George W. Bush and Obama, Robert Gates oversaw² critical moments in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He would emotionally address the troops in the field, but back home showed a stoic³ public face.

　　Gates opens up about his frustration⁴ with the presidents he served and the Congress he had to testify before in a new book, "Duty: Memoirs⁵ of a Secretary at War."

　　He writes of one meeting in 2011 with Mr. Obama and General David Petraeus, who then commanded military forces in Afghanistan:

　　Quote: "As I sat there, I thought the president doesn't trust his commander, can't stand Karzai, doesn't believe in his own strategy and doesn't consider the war to be his. For him, it's all about getting out" -- end quote.

　　When it came to Congress, he writes -- quote -- "I would listen with growing outrage⁶, as hypocritical and obtuse⁷ American senators made all of these demands of Iraqi legislators and yet themselves could not even pass budgets" -- end quote.

　　We expect to interview the former defense secretary next Tuesday.

　　But, for now, we turn to Washington Post staff writer Greg Jaffe, who covered Robert Gates and has read an advance copy of the book.

　　Greg Jaffe, it's good to have you with us. Thank you.

　　GREG JAFFE,The Washington Post: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: So you did get the book early. And you covered him for his entire five years under both presidents. What mainly stands out in this book?

　　GREG JAFFE: Well, the thing that stood out to me most was just the emotional toll⁸ that the wars took on him and that the casualties took on him.

　　You really get an unvarnished sense of that. And we could see it in glimpses covering him. I wrote in the review of the book that I did about oneof those kind of glimpses. But to really see it and hear it in his own voice kind of page after page is striking. And it is a burden that you could tell he still carries with him today and seems to be sorting through in this book.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: And, in fact, you -- I think you said in your review the book reads in a way like an extended therapy session for him.

　　GREG JAFFE: Yes, I kind of felt that way, yes, in the sense that it can be a little bit self-contradictory⁹. It kind of doubles back on itself.

　　On the one hand, you think, hey, if he had given himself a little bit more time and a little bit more distance, it would have been a more rational book, maybe a better argued book. But there is a power and an emotion to writing it when he did. You know, it's really -- it does read like a therapy session at times.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: And you write not only the contradiction in himself, the contradictory views of other people. On the one hand, he praises President Obama for being decisive, for being...

　　GREG JAFFE: Courageous¹⁰.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: ... courageous, bold to make the decision on Osama bin¹¹ Laden¹², but then on the other hand, as we just heard, really being hard on him for his handling of Afghanistan.

　　GREG JAFFE: Yes.

　　And that's -- I thought that that was an example of an argument that he doesn't quite deliver as well as he should on. You know, he criticizes the president for not believing in the strategy, but also concedes that it was a courageous move to back the surge and that it was a politically unpopular move.

　　So it's not completely rational to me. If the president doesn't believe in it, why did he do it? And part of what I kind of wondered was, I mean, it seemed at times that Gates felt like the president -- his frustration with the president is that the president doesn't feel the same passion, the same sort of sense of obligation, the all sort of consuming guilt¹³ at times, and that therefore he must be missing something.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: And Gates, of course, had spent a lot of time or time when he could with the troops themselves, when he would go over there.

　　GREG JAFFE: Certainly, yes, and certainly spent almost every night of his tenure¹⁴ as secretary of defense writing condolence letters, which he -- a task he took with great seriousness.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: You also write at one point in your view, you said you can't imagine between President Obama and President George W. Bush two more different men. What does he say about President Bush?

　　GREG JAFFE: You know, he's very complimentary¹⁵ of President Bush, at least as my recollection of it.

　　He does concede that when he joins the Bush administration, President Bush has been president for six years, and that that is, you know, a different mind-set. But he is very -- he's very quick to praise President Bush's decisiveness and his passion, particularly with regard to the Iraqi surge.

　　He describes him as sort of having no second thoughts on that surge, nor any second thoughts on the Iraq war overall. And that's something that I think Gates finds commendable¹⁶.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: Congress, he is very tough on. Is that just from having to go testify as often as he did?

　　GREG JAFFE: I think so, and just sort of the divisive political nature of Congress today. You know, I think he longs for a day of greater bipartisanship.

　　But I think part of it is just his own personal frustration that he is so engaged in these wars. And I think he is just frustrated¹⁷ with Congress that they don't feel the same. Again, they don't feel the same passion, the same commitment that he does.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: And his really tough comment about Vice¹⁸ President Biden, that he has been wrong on every foreign policy.

　　GREG JAFFE: For four decades.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: For four decades.

　　GREG JAFFE: Yes, it's interesting on that, though.

　　This is where I -- the therapy session stuff comes in, that he's very critical of Biden on that. He's very critical of Biden for suggesting that he sowed discord¹⁹ between the president and the uniformed military by sort of subjecting the president to Chinese water torture, as he calls it, that you can't trust your generals.

　　But then, at the end of the book, he also kind of comes around and says, well, on Iraq, there really wasn't that much of a difference between my position and Biden's position, you know, maybe 10,000 troops, and that I should have done more to build bridges, rather than be as defensive²⁰ as I was.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: Finally, Greg Jaffe, how does he judge himself?

　　GREG JAFFE: You know, that's a good question.

　　I think he sort of -- that's why I thought he is kind of wrestling through it. I mean, he is critical of himself in the book. And it's written in his voice. He didn't use a ghostwriter. And it's clear. And I mean that in a good way, in a sense that it sounds like him and it feels like him.

　　And I think he is still wrestling through with that. I think he's very proud of the Iraq surge, but I think he does feel a certain amount of guilt at the suffering that the war has caused.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: Greg Jaffe with The Washington Post.

　　And, as we mentioned, we will be talking with former Defense Secretary Robert Gates next Tuesday.

　　Thank you.

　　GREG JAFFE: Yes, thank you.

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 oversaw   

v.监督，监视( oversee的过去式 )

参考例句：

• He will go down as the president who oversaw two historic transitions. 他将作为见证了巴西两次历史性转变的总统，安然引退。 来自互联网
• Dixon oversaw the project as creative director of Design Research Studio. 狄克逊监督项目的创意总监设计研究工作室。 来自互联网

3 stoic   

n.坚忍克己之人，禁欲主义者

参考例句：

• A stoic person responds to hardship with imperturbation.坚忍克己之人经受苦难仍能泰然自若。
• On Rajiv's death a stoic journey began for Mrs Gandhi,supported by her husband's friends.拉吉夫死后，索尼亚在丈夫友人的支持下开始了一段坚忍的历程。

4 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

5 memoirs   

n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数)

参考例句：

• Her memoirs were ghostwritten. 她的回忆录是由别人代写的。
• I watched a trailer for the screenplay of his memoirs. 我看过以他的回忆录改编成电影的预告片。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

7 obtuse   

adj.钝的；愚钝的

参考例句：

• You were too obtuse to take the hint.你太迟钝了，没有理解这种暗示。
• "Sometimes it looks more like an obtuse triangle,"Winter said.“有时候它看起来更像一个钝角三角形。”温特说。

8 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

9 contradictory   

adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立

参考例句：

• The argument is internally contradictory.论据本身自相矛盾。
• What he said was self-contradictory.他讲话前后不符。

10 courageous   

adj.勇敢的，有胆量的

参考例句：

• We all honour courageous people.我们都尊重勇敢的人。
• He was roused to action by courageous words.豪言壮语促使他奋起行动。

11 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

12 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

13 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

14 tenure   

n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期

参考例句：

• He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
• Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。

15 complimentary   

adj.赠送的，免费的，赞美的，恭维的

参考例句：

• She made some highly complimentary remarks about their school.她对他们的学校给予高度的评价。
• The supermarket operates a complimentary shuttle service.这家超市提供免费购物班车。

16 commendable   

adj.值得称赞的

参考例句：

• The government's action here is highly commendable.政府这样的行动值得高度赞扬。
• Such carping is not commendable.这样吹毛求疵真不大好。

17 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

19 discord   

n.不和，意见不合，争论，（音乐）不和谐

参考例句：

• These two answers are in discord.这两个答案不一样。
• The discord of his music was hard on the ear.他演奏的不和谐音很刺耳。

20 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。