美国不应对难民危机袖手旁观

When historians weigh President Barack Obama’s record, the word Syria looks set to be a negative. It is four years since Mr Obama called for Bashar al-Assad’s ejection from power. The US president did almost nothing to follow through on it — and the little he tried arguably tightened Mr Assad’s grip.

当历史学家权衡美国总统巴拉克攠巴马(Barack Obama)的功过时，“叙利亚”一词看上去肯定会成为他的一个减分项。奥巴马曾要求巴沙尔阿萨德(Bashar al-Assad)下台。在那之后，他几乎没有做出任何努力去促成这件事——而他唯一做出的那一点点努力可以说反而加强了阿萨德对叙利亚的控制。

More than 200,000 deaths and 4m refugees later, it is hard to distinguish America’s response from that of other western democracies. With the notable exceptions of Germany and Sweden, the west has denied succour to Syria’s fleeing masses.

在超过20万人死亡、400万难民流离失所后，很难看出美国的反应与其他西方民主国家有什么不同。除了德国和瑞典这两个明显的例外，西方国家一直拒绝向叙利亚难民伸出援手。

Mr Obama should be wary. Syria is not some footnote to a respectable diplomatic legacy. It is an indictment.

奥巴马应该小心。叙利亚并不是一份令人尊敬的外交遗产的注脚。它是一项控诉。

America’s abstention so far from Syria’s human crisis can be measured in numbers. Germany has put its European neighbours to shame by saying it will process up to 800,000 refugee applications from Syria — a multiple of the rest of Europe put together. Since the start of Syria’s civil war, the US has taken just 1,434.

美国在叙利亚人道危机问题上到目前为止的不作为，可以用数字来衡量。德国表示将处理至多80万份叙利亚难民申请，这个数字（数倍于欧洲其他国家的总和）足以让其欧洲邻国感到羞愧。自叙利亚内战爆发以来，美国仅仅接收了1434名难民。

There was a period when the US was deporting more Mexican immigrants than that every day. Money only goes so far to make up. The US has spent $4bn on humanitarian relief, which is considerably more than Europe.

曾经有一段时间，美国每天遣返的墨西哥移民数量都超过这个数字。金钱只能在一定程度上起到弥补作用。美国在人道主义救援方面投入了40亿美元，大大超过欧洲。

But it pales against the costs Syria’s neighbours are bearing. One in five people in Lebanon is now a Syrian refugee. Turkey is overwhelmed.

但叙利亚的几个邻国承担的成本令美国的投入相形见绌。如今在黎巴嫩，每5个人里就有1个叙利亚难民。土耳其也不堪重负。

The case for the US to open its doors to many more Syrians is compelling. First, there is little else the US can do to alleviate Syria’s suffering. As Mr Obama discovered, calling for Mr Assad’s departure is not the same thing as bringing it about. That was then.

我们有充分理由主张美国应大大增加接收叙利亚难民的数量。第一，美国在其他方面能为缓解叙利亚痛苦做的事情很少。正如奥巴马发现的那样，要求阿萨德下台，跟促成这件事不是一回事。并且现在的情况跟那时候已经不一样了。

Today, it is unclear whether Mr Assad’s ejection would even be desirable. The revenge of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) against Alawite and other non-Sunni supporters of the Assad regime could put today’s slaughter into the shade. Nor is there the slightest chance the US-led training of the moderate Syrian Free Army will produce an effective force before Mr Obama leaves office.

如今，阿萨德下台还是不是一个值得欢迎的结果都不确定。“伊拉克和黎凡特伊斯兰国”(Isis)对阿拉维派(Alawite)以及其他支持阿萨德政权的非逊尼派的报复，甚至可能会让眼下的杀戮显得没什么大不了。美国领导的对温和的叙利亚自由军(Syrian Free Army)的培训，也没有丝毫可能会让这支武装在奥巴马离任前具备强大的战斗力。

The US-led bombing campaign may stem the human exodus in some parts of Syria — Isis has generated as many refugees as Mr Assad. But it will not lead to a political settlement.

以美国为首的轰炸行动可能会止住叙利亚某些地区的大批难民（Isis造成的难民数量与阿萨德一样多）外流。但是，这不会带来政治上的和解。

Second, America’s brand in the Middle East is as tarnished under Mr Obama as it was under George W Bush. It may be unfair to compare them. Mr Bush’s were errors of commission — chiefly in his Iraq invasion. Mr Obama’s are errors of omission in how he has handled Mr Bush’s legacy. But their costs are real.

第二，奥巴马任内，美国在中东的名声跟在乔治圠布什(George W Bush)任内差不多臭。将这两个人相提并论或许不公平。小布什的过错是作为之错，主要错在入侵伊拉克。奥巴马的过错是不作为之错，错在没收拾好前者留下的烂摊子。但是他们造成的代价是实实在在的。

From imprisoned democrats in Egypt, to Libyans fleeing their country’s disintegration, the US is no beacon under Mr Obama. The feeling — once articulated by the president himself — that the US could disentangle itself is mocked every day by the hordes escaping Syria and elsewhere. The spillover does not stop at Europe. In today’s world no region is an island, let alone the Middle East.

从埃及囚禁民主人士、到利比亚人逃离四分五裂的国家，奥巴马执政下的美国并没起到灯塔的作用。如总统本人曾清楚地说过的那样，美国觉得自己可以置身事外，然而在大批难民不断逃离叙利亚和其他地方的现实面前，这种感觉每一天都在受到嘲讽。溢出效应并不止于欧洲。当今世界，不用说中东，没有任何地方是孤立于世界的岛屿。

The moral case for the US to accept more asylum seekers is long overdue. Since the 2003 invasion, the US has taken 157,000 Iraqis and a fraction the number of Afghans.

美国接收更多难民的道德依据早就应该提出了。自2003年入侵伊拉克以来，美国接收了15.7万名伊拉克难民，美国接收的阿富汗难民数量则只有这个数字的几分之一。

Thousands of those who worked for the US military, as interpreters, guides, and fixers, have failed to get visas — even though their lives are in danger from Isis, the Taliban and others. The Obama administration deserves some blame for this. The special visa for former Iraqi and Afghan employees of the US military only came into effect in 2008. For those who have made it to the US, the process took years. For those left stranded, the message is clear: America is capable of abandoning you. It is hard to think of a worse signal, or one more easily rectified.

成千上万曾为美军工作，充当翻译、向导和中间人的伊拉克人和阿富汗人一直未能获得签证——尽管Isis、塔利班(Taliban)和其他组织正威胁着他们的生命安全。奥巴马政府在一定程度上对此难辞其咎。从2008年起才有了针对曾效力于美国军队的伊拉克人和阿富汗人颁发的特别签证。那些成功来到美国的人，在这个过程中耗时多年。那些仍困在国内的人，则面对一个明确的讯息：美国可以抛弃你们。很难想到比这更糟糕的信号了，也很难想到比这更容易纠正的事情了。

In this case, US politics is not to blame. Congress has passed laws with large bipartisan majorities to allow former Iraqi and Afghan employees into the country.

不应把这个问题归咎于美国政治。在美国国会两党议员的共同支持下，美国国会以大多数票数通过了法律，允许接收曾经为美军效力的伊拉克人和阿富汗人进入美国。

The problem is bureaucratic constipation. The fear of letting in one terrorist clearly outweighs the benefit of letting in thousands of deserving innocents. Applicants must wade through a morass of the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and others. The hold up is in the executive branch. Only Mr Obama has the power to unclog it. Likewise, only he has the power to take the lead on the Syrian refugee crisis.

问题是官僚体制的层层阻碍。对于让一名恐怖分子入境的担忧，显然超过了让数千名有权获得新生的无辜受害者入境的好处。申请者必须趟过美国国务院(State Department)、国土安全部(Department of Homeland Security)、美国联邦调查局(Federal Bureau of Investigation)以及其他机构制造的各种泥沼。阻碍出现在行政分支。只有奥巴马有能力排除阻碍。同样的，也只有他有能力在叙利亚难民危机中发挥带头作用。

What is stopping him? Again, it is not politics. Evangelical groups have called on the US to take in more Syrian Christians, who make up a large share of Isis victims. A group of senators urged Mr Obama this year to take in 65,000 Syrian refugees of whatever background.

阻止他的是什么？仍然不是政治。福音派组织一直呼吁美国接纳更多叙利亚基督徒，这些人在Isis受害者中占到很大比例。一些参议员今年敦促奥巴马接纳6.5万名叙利亚难民，不管他们是什么背景。

Mr Obama’s response was to say the US would take in up to 8,000 more in 2016, a number too paltry to have much effect. Even Donald Trump said last week that an exception could be made for Syria because its crisis was “so horrible”. The human cost is there on our smart phones. It is worth noting that Steve Jobs, Apple’s founder, was the son of a Syrian immigrant.

奥巴马的回应是表示美国将在2016年再接纳最多8千名叙利亚难民，这个数字杯水车薪。甚至连唐纳德礠朗普(Donald Trump)上周也表示，可以为叙利亚破例，因为该国危机“非常恐怖”。我们可以在智能手机上查到这场危机的伤亡数字。有必要提一下，苹果(Apple)创始人史蒂夫吠布斯(Steve Jobs)的生父就是叙利亚移民。

It is clear Mr Obama’s humanitarian instincts are strong. But he is standing back on Syria. Whenever Bill Clinton is asked about his presidential regrets, he brings up his failure to stop the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Unless Mr Obama changes tack, Syria will come to haunt him too.

很明显，奥巴马的人道主义本能强烈。但他正在对叙利亚袖手旁观。每当比尔克林顿(Bill Clinton)被问及他在担任总统期间的遗憾时，他就会提起他未能阻止1994年的卢旺达大屠杀。除非奥巴马改变策略，否则叙利亚也会一直萦绕在他的心头。