Documents Show Thatcher-Reagan Rift Over U.S. Decision to Invade Grenada
August 02, 2013
解密文件顯示美國入侵格林納達曾考驗英美關係
2013年08月02日
LONDON —
Thirty-year-old documents newly released by the British government
reveal just how severely America’s decision to invade the Caribbean
island of Grenada in 1983 tested the warm ties between Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan.
倫敦——從英國政府最近公布的一些有30
年歷史的文件中可以看到，美國於1983年入侵加勒比海島國格林納達的決定，對時任英國首相的瑪格麗特·撒切爾(Margaret
Thatcher)和美國總統羅納德·里根(Ronald Reagan)之間的友好關係是一次多麼嚴峻的考驗。
While the two
leaders had a strong and affectionate personal rapport, the British
official papers reveal how little warning Mrs. Thatcher was given about
the pending military invasion, a move that left the British irritated,
bewildered and disappointed. They also show how Mr. Reagan justified the
secrecy as a way to prevent leaks, and how the British later concluded
that the invasion had in fact been planned long in advance. At one point
during tense written exchanges, both leaders claimed, in defense of
their opposing approaches to the unrest in Grenada, that lives were at
stake.
據這些英國官方文件披露，雖然兩位領導人
有着堅實而融洽的私交，可是對於行將發生的軍事入侵行動，撒切爾幾乎沒有得到任何警示，此舉既讓英國人大為光火，又讓他們感到困惑和失望。文件還披露了里
根是如何以保密為由，防止消息外泄的，並披露了英國人之所以在後來得出結論，認為此次入侵實際上是一次提前策划了許久的行動的原因。在雙方劍拔弩張的書面
交流中，為了捍衛他們各自在處置格林納達動亂上相左的意見，雙方領導人都表示現在到了性命攸關的時刻。
The Americans,
citing fears of Cuban and Soviet influence, invaded Grenada, a former
British colony, after its prime minister, Maurice Bishop, was
assassinated on Oct. 19, 1983. When finally consulted, the British
counseled against military action, arguing that it would be seen as
intervening in the internal affairs of a small nation, “however
unattractive its regime,” and pointed out that Mr. Bishop was “himself,
of course, a Marxist.”
美國人以害怕古巴和蘇聯影響格林納達為
由，入侵了該國，格林納達是英國前殖民地，該國總理莫里斯·畢曉普(Maurice
Bishop)於1983年10月19日遇刺身亡。當最終被問及己方的立場時，英國的意見是反對軍事行動，他們認為，「無論該國當權者多麼不起眼，」軍事
行動都會被外界認為是在干涉一個小國的內政，英國人還指出，畢曉普「本人，無疑是一名馬克思主義者」。
Paul R. Benoit/Associated Press
在回憶錄中，撒切爾夫人講述了入侵格林納達的行動讓她感到多麼沮喪和失望。
The British
government files are being made public under rules that allow the
release of documents after 30 years. The government made some available
online Wednesday before their official release on Thursday.
英國政府的文件得以公開，根據的是准許在30年後披露文件的規定。政府正式於周四公開了文件，在此前的周三，政府在網上已經公開了部分文件。
In her memoirs, Mrs. Thatcher, who died in April,
described how dismayed and let down she felt by what happened in
Grenada, which retained Queen Elizabeth II as head of state when it
became independent in 1974. Mrs. Thatcher summarized and even quoted
from the documents released this week, but their full publication gives a
detailed picture of what she described in her book as an “unhappy time”
of discord a year after more serious diplomatic tension with the United
States over Britain’s military effort to recover the Falkland Islands
after Argentina invaded.
據今年4月去世的撒切爾在她的回憶錄里描
述，她對發生在格林納達的事情深感沮喪和失望，該國在1974年成為獨立國家時，依然保持了伊麗莎白二世女王(Queen Elizabeth
II)的國家元首地位。撒切爾概述，甚至援引了本周被披露的文件，不過，這些文件的全面發表展現了時局的詳情，她在自己的書里形容，那是一段相互不和的
「不快時光」，此前一年，就在阿根廷入侵福克蘭群島之後，由於英國欲以武力收復該島，致使美英陷入了更加緊張的外交局面。
On the evening of
Oct. 24, 1983, two messages were sent by Washington, hours after a
British minister had told Parliament that there was no indication of an
imminent American invasion. The first message said that the United
States was considering a request from some Caribbean nations to
intervene; the second, sent within four hours, said that it had decided
to go ahead. Replying, Mrs. Thatcher said that Mr. Reagan’s decision
“causes us the gravest concern” and warned that the queen’s
representative on the island, the governor general, had told a British
official that if there were an intervention, “he would probably be
killed.”
1983年10月24日，英國的一名部長
對國會說，沒有跡象表明美國即將入侵格林納達，他說完這番話幾個小時，美國政府就在晚間發來了兩條訊息。訊息之一說，美國正在考慮一些加勒比海國家提出的
干預請求；在四個小時之內發出的第二條訊息說，美國已經決定採取行動。撒切爾在回復中說，里根的決定「引起了英方的嚴重關切」，她還警告說，英女王在該國
的代表，即格林納達總督，已經對一名英國官員表示，如果出現軍事干預行動，「他可能會被殺。」
“I cannot conceal
that I am deeply disturbed by your latest communication,” she wrote to
Mr. Reagan, adding that she hoped “that even at this late stage you will
take it into account before events are irrevocable.”
她在給里根的信中寫道：「實不相瞞，你上次說的事情令我深感不安。」並表示她的希望是「即使已經到了這麼晚的階段，你也能在事件變得不可逆轉之前考慮這一點。」
The invasion took place the next day.
第二天入侵就發生了。
In an apologetic,
15-minute phone call on Oct. 26, Mr. Reagan, according to a British
diplomatic note, began by saying that “if he was in London he would
throw his hat in the door first” — an expression suggesting he would
check to see whether or not he was welcome.
英國的一份外交文件顯示，10月26日，里根歉疚地跟撒切爾夫人通了15分鐘電話，頭一句就說「如果他在倫敦，他會先把自己的帽子扔到門裡」——這個說法暗示他想看看對方是不是歡迎自己。
“He very much
regretted the embarrassment that had been caused,” the document said,
giving the president’s account of how “he had been woken at three
o’clock in the morning when on a so-called golfing vacation” with a
request to intervene, and emphasizing how “lives were at stake” because
of the risk of leaks. “The military had only a matter of hours,” he
said.
這份文件說：「對於他引起的尷尬，他感到非常遺憾。」文件中不僅描述了里根說自己如何「在所謂的高爾夫度假期間，凌晨三點」被干預請求叫醒，而且強調了泄漏風險如何導致「性命攸關」。「軍隊只有幾個小時的時間，」他說。
But a later
briefing note by Mrs. Thatcher’s foreign policy adviser, Anthony
Parsons, concluded that “it is becoming increasingly obvious that” the
United States “had been planning the Grenada move for some time” and
that “some plain speaking” with the Americans was needed.
但是在後來的一份簡報中，撒切爾夫人的外交政策顧問安東尼·帕森斯(Anthony Parsons)推斷道說，「事情越來越明顯：美國規劃格林納達行動已經有一段時間了，」有必要跟美國人進行一些「直白的談話」。
One argument was
that America’s failure to consult made it harder to defend the
contentious deployment of nuclear-tipped cruise missiles on British
soil. A record of a breakfast meeting in November 1983 with the American
deputy secretary of state, Kenneth Dam, noted that Mrs. Thatcher had
argued, “to say that all this had put us in difficulty was putting it
very mildly.”
有一種說法是，美國沒有跟人商量就在英國
的土地上部署裝有核彈頭的巡航導彈，為這個有爭議的行動辯護也因此變得更加困難。一份記錄指出，1983年11月，撒切爾夫人在跟美國副國務卿肯尼斯·達
姆(Kenneth Dam)開早餐會時曾說過：「說這一切讓我們全都陷入困境太輕描淡寫了一些。」
Grenada was only
one of numerous issues covered in the document release, and a summary
highlights several others. The most chilling, in a way, is the
disclosure that during a routine servicing of nuclear weapons, a
technician discovered that a British key could also turn the lock on
American nuclear weapons. All the locks were changed.
這些文件涵蓋了多個問題，格林納達只是其中一個，有一份匯總突出了其他幾個問題。從某個角度來說，這些文件披露的最令人不寒而慄的是事件是：一次例行維修保養核武器時，技術人員發現，有一把英國的鑰匙可以打開美國核武器上的鎖。然後所有的鎖都換掉了。
The files also
contain records of a conversation between Mrs. Thatcher and the German
chancellor at the time, Helmut Kohl, in which he described his wish to
reduce the number of Turks living in Germany by half, something he said
he could not admit publicly. Mr. Kohl is reported as saying that the
Turks were from a distinct culture and had not integrated well.
文件中還記錄了撒切爾夫人和當時的德國總
理赫爾穆特·科爾(Helmut
Kohl)之間的一次交談。他在交談中說，他希望把生活在德國的土耳其人人數減少一半，他說這是他不能公開承認的東西。有報道說，科爾曾說土耳其人來自一
種截然不同的文化，一直不能很好地融入德國社會。
According to a
summary of other files covering the years 1979-83, including the
purchase by Rupert Murdoch of The Times of London, Mr. Murdoch met Mrs.
Thatcher in April 1981. He discussed staff changes and suggested that
the prime minister invite the new editor of The Sunday Times, Frank
Giles, to her Downing Street office for a drink.
一份對其他文件的匯總涵蓋了從1979到
1983年發生的事件，其中包括魯珀特·默多克(Rupert Murdoch)收購《泰晤士報》(The Times of
London)。這份匯總顯示，默多克1981年4月曾與撒切爾夫人見過面。他談到了人事變動，並建議撒切爾夫人邀請《星期日泰晤士報》(The
Sunday Times)的新任編輯弗蘭克·賈爾斯(Frank Giles)到她唐寧街的首相府喝一杯。
Copyright © 2013 The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.
沒有留言:
張貼留言