美国再次拒绝对杀害中东平民的事实负责。当地时间5月17日，美国国防部长奥斯汀批准五角大楼一项内部调查报告，报告称该部2019年在叙利亚造成多达64名平民死亡的空袭“没有违反美国的交战规则或战争法”，调查结果也没有要求任何纪律处分。承认杀害中东平民却拒不认罪，如此霸道果然很美国。
The US once again refused to be held accountable for killing civilians in the Middle East. On May 17, local time, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin approved an internal investigation report by Pentagon that claimed that "no Rules of Engagement (ROE) or Law of War (LOW) violations occurred" in American military's air strikes in the vicinity of Baghuz, Syria in 2019, which killed more than 64 civilians, and the investigation results didn't demand any disciplinary actions. Admitting killing Middle Eastern civilians but refusing to call that a crime – How typical! How American!
五角大楼为何抛出这样一份看似调查问题、实则处处撇清的报告？原因无他，美军在中东杀害平民的丑闻实在藏不住了。
Why does the Pentagon come up with such a seemingly investigative but actually exonerative report now? Because what they did there could no longer be covered up.
2021年11月，《纽约时报》刊发深度报道《美国如何掩盖一场屠杀叙利亚平民的空袭》，揭露了美军在2019年3月18日出动无人机在巴古兹镇投下一枚500磅的炸弹和两枚2000磅的炸弹，造成60多名平民死亡的真相。《纽约时报》称，这次事件是“多年来在美军与‘伊斯兰国’作战期间最大的平民伤亡事件之一”，“但是美军从未公开承认这一点”。在《纽约时报》的持续追踪调查中，美军在对伊拉克和叙利亚空袭中导致平民伤亡的悲剧一个个浮出水面。
In November 2021, New York Times published an article titled "How the US hid an airstrike that killed dozens of civilians in Syria", which revealed how the US military UAVs dropped a 500-pound bomb and two 2,000-pound bombs in Baghuz on March 18, 2019, killing more than 60 civilians. The newspaper called it one of the largest civilian casualty incidents of the war against ISIS, but it has never been publicly acknowledged by the US military. NYT's following investigations brought to light many other tragic civilian casualties caused by the US airstrikes in Iraq and Syria.
面对舆论的巨大压力，美国国防部去年11月才不得不承诺展开调查，并于近日完成了内部调查报告。在5月17日的新闻发布会上，美国国防部发言人柯比承认美军“杀害了一些无辜的平民、妇女和儿童”，但他仍然辩称“那是在战斗中，在战争的迷雾中”。
In face of mounting pressure, the US Department of Defense (DoD) was forced to announce last November that it would investigate the strikes, which resulted in the recent internal report. Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said at the press briefing on May 17, "we killed some innocent civilians, women and children", but he tried to excuse or justify that with the fact that it was "in the fog of war, in the midst of combat".
“我是杀了人，但我没罪”，五角大楼这份内部调查报告给人的观感就是百般抵赖。此前《纽约时报》针对巴古兹的调查显示，这次空袭的对象是妇女、儿童和俘虏，根据国际法，他们不是合法的打击目标。然而，五角大楼的内部调查报告却认为，美军“没有违反美国的交战规则或战争法”，调查结果没有要求任何纪律处分。
"I killed innocent people, but I'm innocent." This is what Pentagon's internal report comes across as – full of denial and chicanery. NYT's earlier investigations into the Baghuz airstrike showed that the targets of the strike were women, children and captives, who were not eligible targets of attack according to international law. Yet Pentagon's report insisted "there were no violations of ROE or LOW", and didn't hand out any disciplinary actions.
尽管五角大楼有系统评估空袭造成的平民伤亡情况，但是透明度和问责机制一直缺位。以巴古兹空袭为例，空袭导致人员伤亡后，美军官员第一时间即掌握了信息。当时有一名美国空军律师查看空袭视频等信息后就向上级报告，这起空袭可能犯了战争罪，按照规定，应接受独立、深入的调查。但调查的要求遭到拒绝。据《纽约时报》的报道，美国军方在每个环节动手脚：美国主导的多国联军用推土机清理了空袭现场，平民死亡人数被淡化，调查报告被拖延、删改、加密。
Although Pentagon has its own system to evaluate the civilian casualties caused by its airstrikes, the system falls short of transparency and an accountability mechanism. Take the airstrike in Baghuz for example. US officers had information on the casualties at first opportunity, and a US Air Force attorney, after watching videos of the strike and going through other information, reported to his superior that it was a possible war crime that required an investigation, but his request was rejected. "At nearly every step, the military made moves that concealed the catastrophic strike. The death toll was downplayed. Reports were delayed, sanitized and classified. US-led coalition forces bulldozed the blast site."NYT said.
对这一切，五角大楼此次的内部调查报告再次搬出了“糊弄大法”。报告仅承认，军方对巴古兹空袭的初步评估在多个指挥层处理不当，造成报告延误和信息缺失，但背后没有“恶意或错误意图”，也没有证据表明军方试图“隐瞒决定或行动”。
But nobody knows its way around evasion and paltering better than Pentagon, whose report only admitted that the military's primary estimation of Baghuz airstrike was inappropriately handled on several commanding levels, which led to delayed reporting and insufficient information, but "there was no malicious intent", nor was there any evidence to prove that the military tried to conceal its decisions or actions.
正是美军的故意忽视和系统性掩盖，导致了“错误一次又一次发生”。曾在美国国防部监察长办公室任评估员的吉恩·泰特是《纽约时报》曝光巴古兹空袭丑闻的重要线索人物，他因批评美国军方在调查巴古兹空袭过程中的不作为而遭到解雇。在五角大楼关于巴古兹空袭的内部调查报告相关内容披露后，泰特评论说：“这是标准的政府路线——犯了错误，但没有不当行为。如果同样的错误多年里一而再再而三发生，难道不应该有人对此有所作为吗？”
The deliberate neglect and systematic cover-up within the US military are the reason for its repeated mistakes. Gene Tate, a former evaluator at the DoD inspector general's office, was a key lead in NYT's exposure of the Baghuz scandal. He was fired for accusing the Pentagon of inaction during the Baghuz airstrike investigation. After Pentagon's internal report came out, Tate said it was a typical government move – we made a mistake, but there was no misconduct. The thing is, if the same mistake keeps happening over and over for so many years, shouldn't someone be held accountable for it and do something about it?
Editor's note: This article is originally published on the haiwainet.cn, and is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
