標題: How US "good guys" wiped out an Afghan family
美國"好人"們如何摧毀一個阿富汗家庭
新聞來源: The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
網址：https://tinyurl.com/yxeqs7r3
作者：Abbie Cheeseman & Ahmed Mengli
相關視頻：https://tinyurl.com/y4w7bp3j
It was 4am when Masih Ur-Rahman Mubarez’s wife Amina called, an unusually
early time for their daily chat. When he picked up the phone, he could hear
the panic in her voice.
(凌晨4點，Masih Ur-Rahman Mubarez的妻子Amina打來電話，這是他們每天一早的聊天時
間。當他拿起電話時，他能聽到她聲音中的恐慌。)
Amina was calling from the Afghan province of Wardak, where she brought up
their children while he worked over the border in Iran to support them. She
told him that soldiers were raiding their village. Some of them were speaking
English. Amina was told to turn off her phone but Masih asked her not to -
how would he know they were ok?
(Amina從阿富汗的Wardak省打電話來，她在那裡撫養孩子，而Masih在伊朗邊境工作，以
支持這個家。她告訴他，士兵正在襲擊他們的村莊。他們中的一些人說英語。 Amina被告
知要關掉她的電話，但Masih不讓她關--- 不然他怎能知道他們沒事呢？)
The call ended with Masih saying he would call again when things had calmed.
But at 9am, when he dialled his wife’s number, her phone was off. He tried
again at 9.30am. Still off. Through the whole of that day and the next, he
repeatedly called. But Amina’s phone remained off.
(電話結束時，Masih說當事情平靜時他會再次打電話。但在上午9點，當他撥打妻子的號
碼時，她的電話已關閉。他於上午9點30分再次嘗試，仍然關閉。在那一天整天和隔天，
他多次打來電話。但Amina的手機仍關閉。)
It took another day for him to the learn the truth. Relatives avoided his
calls or gave vague replies to his questions, until finally his brother broke
the news. “He tried to avoid telling me the whole story, but I insisted that
he tell me the truth,” Masih recalled in a wavering voice. “He told me to
have patience in God - no one is left.”
(他另花了一天時間來了解真相。親戚避開他的電話或含糊回答他的問題，直到最後他的
兄弟告訴他真相。 “他試圖避免告訴我整個故事，但我堅持說他要說實話，”Masih以一
種搖擺不定的聲音回憶道。 “他告訴我要對上帝有耐心--- 沒有人活下來。”)
An airstrike on Masih’s house had killed his wife and all his seven
children, alongside four young cousins. His youngest child was just four
years old.
(一場空襲擊中Masih的房子，殺死了他的妻子和他的七個孩子，以及四個年輕的表兄弟。
他最小的孩子才四歲。)
In the following weeks, as grief consumed Masih, so did an intense need for
answers. Who had killed his family and why?
(在接下來的幾周里， Masih活在悲傷裡，而對真相的需求也如此強烈。誰殺了他的家人
？為什麼？)
His journey to find out would last more than eight months, pit him against
military and government officials, and see him face obfuscation and denials.
It would lead him to work alongside the Bureau and journalists from The New
York Times, putting together a puzzle piece by piece. Ultimately it would
lead to one definitive conclusion - the US military had dropped the fatal
bomb.
(他尋找真相的過程持續八個多月，和軍事官員與政府官員鬥爭，卻得到模糊的回應與否
認。這使他轉與我們The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (以下簡稱The Bureau)
以及紐約時報的記者合作，將迷團一片片拼湊起來。最終得到了一個明確的結論--- 美國
軍方投放了致命的炸彈。)
His story is one window into the struggles faced by families across
Afghanistan every day. Airstrikes are raining down on the country, with US
and Afghan operations now killing more civilians than the insurgency for the
first time in a decade. But getting confirmation of who has carried out a
fatal strike is often impossible. An apology, or any form of public
accountability, is even harder to obtain.
(他的故事是阿富汗各家庭每天所面臨的艱難情況。空襲正在該國進行。十年來首次，美
國和阿富汗的軍事行動比叛軍殺死了更多平民。但是，確認誰在進行致命打擊通常是不可
能的。道歉或任何形式的公開問責更是難以實現。)
The US denied repeatedly that it had bombed Masih’s house, or even that any
airstrike in his area had taken place. But using satellite imagery, photos
and open source content, we proved that denial false. Following our
investigation, the military has now admitted that it did conduct a strike in
that location, but it still denies it resulted in civilian deaths.
(美國一再否認它轟炸了Masih的房子，甚至否認他所在地區有任何空襲。但是使用衛星圖
像，照片和開源內容，我們證明了美軍是錯的。在我們的調查之後，軍方現在承認它確實
在該地點進行了襲擊，但仍否認導致平民死亡。)
A happy life destroyed
(幸福生活毀於一旦)
“Prior to my house being bombed, I had a normal life. I was married, had
four daughters and three sons,” Masih told our reporter in Kabul. “Our life
was full of love.”
(“在我的房子遭到轟炸之前，我過著正常的生活。我結婚了，有四個女兒和三個兒子，
“Masih告訴我們在喀布爾的記者：“我們的生活充滿了愛。”)
Masih was the headteacher in a local school run by a Swedish organisation
before financial issues forced him to seek employment in construction in Iran
in 2014. He still reminisces about his days in the village of Mullah Hafiz,
where he split his time between farming, teaching and his children. “We were
so happy,” he says.
(Masih曾是當地一所由瑞典組織所經營的學校的首席教師，之後他在2014年因財務問題被
迫到伊朗從事建築工作。他仍然回憶起他在Mullah Hafiz村的日子，他在那裡把時間用於
耕種，教學和他的孩子們。 “那時我們非常幸福，”他說。)
Exactly what happened on the day of the strike is not clear. Villagers say
that overnight on September 22 2018, bombs were dropped in Mullah Hafiz,
which lies in a Taliban-controlled area. The same night, they said, soldiers
carried out a raid on the village as part of an operation on a Taliban
prison, which was about 200 metres away from Masih’s house. One of the
villagers said Taliban fighters had fired on the soldiers from some civilian
homes.
(襲擊當天究竟發生了什麼，目前尚不清楚。村民們說，2018年9月22日整夜，炸彈投在了
位於塔利班控制區的Mullah Hafiz。他們說，同一天晚上，士兵們對該村莊進行了一次襲
擊，作為對塔利班一所監獄作戰行動的一部分，該監獄距離Masih的家約200公尺。其中一
名村民說，塔利班武裝分子從一些民宅中向士兵開槍。)
A cousin of Masih's told us he and and other male relatives were taken away
and detained, alongside some other villagers. At some point the next morning,
a strike hit Masih's house. When his relatives returned, they found the
building flattened. In the rubble were the bodies of Amina, the seven
children and their four cousins, they say.
(Masih的表兄告訴我們，他和其他男性親戚與一些村民一起被帶走並被拘留。在第二天早
上的某個時刻，一場襲擊擊中了Masih的房子。當他的親戚回來時，發現建築物變平了。
他們說，在瓦礫中有Amina的屍體，七個孩子和他們的四個表兄弟。)
Masih's children were aged between four and 14 years old; his wife Amina was
32. The cousins, all girls, were aged from 10 to 16.
(Masih的孩子年齡在4到14歲之間；他的妻子Amina是32歲。表兄弟們和所有女孩的年齡從
10歲到16歲不等。)
The full list of those who died in the strike:
(完整的死亡名單與死者年齡如下：)
Mohammad Fayaz (4), Fahima (5), Samina (7), Mohammad Ilyas (8), Mohammad
Wiqad (10), Amina (10), Safia (12), Zarifa (12), Anisa (14), Nafisa (14),
Rahmania (16), Amina (32)
On finding out his family had been killed, Masih returned immediately to
Afghanistan. The return journey was tough - having been working illegally in
construction in Iran he says he had to hand himself to the Iranian police and
wait for deportation. It took him three days to get back to his village. It
was then that he began hunting for the truth.
(在知道他的家人被殺後，Masih立即返回阿富汗。回程艱難 - 他在伊朗的建築工作是非
法的，他說他必須把自己交給伊朗警察並等待被驅逐出境。他花了三天時間才回到自己的
村莊。就在那時，他開始尋找真相。)
Masih claims government officials acknowledged in private that his family
died. However while both the Afghan Ministry of Defence and the provincial
police publicly announced in the days following the attack that an operation
on a Taliban prison had killed large numbers of Taliban fighters, they did
not acknowledge that any civilians died in a strike.
(Masih聲稱政府官員私下承認他的家人已死。然而，雖然阿富汗國防部和省警察在襲擊發
生後幾天內公開宣布，他們在有關塔利班監獄的一項行動中殺死了大量塔利班武裝分子，
但他們並未承認任何平民在襲擊中喪生。)
“I have repeatedly told them that it was my children, that it was my wife,
that it was my cousins, that they were all civilians and that my house was
destroyed,” Masih said. “When they say that they have bombed a [Taliban]
prison, they have absolutely not done that.”
(“我一再告訴他們，這是我的孩子，是我的妻子，是我的表兄弟，他們都是平民，我的
房子被毀了，”Masih說。 “當他們說他們轟炸了塔利班監獄時，他們絕對沒有襲擊民房
，殺死平民。”)
Journalists investigate
(記者調查)
As Masih was investigating, so was the Bureau. We had independently heard of
a strike that had killed multiple children in Mullah Hafiz on September 23,
and were trying to establish who had carried it out.
(正如Masih的調查，The Bureau也得到同樣結果。我們獨立地聽說了9月23日在Mullah
Hafiz的襲擊殺害了多名兒童，我們試圖確認兇手。)
The Bureau has been recording strikes in Afghanistan for over four years.
Getting to the bottom of what has happened is often difficult. The attacks
mostly take place in remote areas under Taliban control. They are often not
reported by local media and neither the US nor the Afghan military is fully
transparent.
(The Bureau一直在阿富汗記錄襲擊超過四年。深入了解已發生的事情通常很困難。這些
襲擊主要發生在塔利班控制下的偏遠地區。當地媒體往往沒有報導這些，美國和阿富汗軍
隊也都沒有完全公開透明。)
We faced all these same barriers with this strike. But this time, over the
course of several months, working with Afghan reporters on the ground and the
Visual Investigations unit of The New York Times, we were able to prove that
the US was responsible for a strike which killed multiple children.
(調查此次襲擊時，我們面臨著同樣的障礙。但是這一次，在幾個月的時間裡與當地阿富
汗記者和紐約時報的Visual Investigations unit一起工作，我們能夠證明這次殺死多名
兒童的襲擊案應由美國負責。)
Our first step was to contact both the Afghan and the US militaries.
(我們的第一步是聯繫阿富汗和美國軍隊。)
Officials in the Afghan Ministry of Defence told us no one was available for
comment.
(阿富汗國防部官員告訴我們，沒有人可發表評論。)
When we went to the US military, we were met with contradictory statements.
Its story changed repeatedly as our reporting developed and the New York
Times got involved.
(當我們聯繫美國軍隊時，我們得到了矛盾的陳述。隨著報導的發展和紐約時報的介入，
它的故事反覆改變。)
A US spokesperson first stated in October that there were “no connections”
between their actions and the allegations of civilian casualties in Mullah
Hafiz. In a later email in February, they claimed to have no record at all of
a strike in the district on September 23.
(一位美國發言人於10月份首次表示，他們的行動與造成Mullah Hafiz平民傷亡的指控之
間“無關聯”。在2月份的一封電子郵件中，他們聲稱完全沒有9月23日在該區襲擊的記錄
。)
In a Pentagon report released this month the strike on Masih’s house was not
included in a list of confirmed civilian casualties.
(在五角大樓本月發布的一份報告中，Masih家的襲擊沒有被列入已確認的平民傷亡名單中
。)
Finally, as we prepared to go to press earlier this week, they admitted they
had bombed Masih’s house. Days later, there was yet another statement.
American soldiers had reported being fired on from the house, they said, and
a strike had been carried out “in self-defence.” But they did not kill Masih
’s family, they said.
(最後，當我們準備在本週早些時候發佈報導時，他們承認他們轟炸了Masih的房子。幾天
後，又有另一個聲明。他們說，據美國士兵的報告，有人從房子裡向他們射擊，然後他們
進行了“自衛”襲擊。但他們並沒有殺死Masih的家人。)
The military has not told us what information it used to reach its
conclusion. It is not uncommon for the US to rely, for the most part, on
pre-strike and post-strike footage filmed by aircraft to investigate claims
that an air attack has harmed civilians. But when a strike hits a building,
as in the case of Masih’s home, it can be difficult to tell what’s under
the rubble.
(軍方沒有告訴我們它依據什麼訊息得出結論。美國在很大程度上依賴由飛機拍攝的襲擊
前和襲擊後的畫面來調查空襲對平民造成傷害。但是當襲擊擊中建築物時，比如像Masih
的家，很難分辨出瓦礫堆底下有什麼。)
Crucial evidence
(重要證據)
Masih wanted the world to know what had happened. Interviews he did with
Afghan media led us to contact him, and in April we were able to meet him in
Kabul. By this time, he had been knocking on doors for months in search for
answers. He had carefully collected evidence he hoped would shine a light on
what happened that day.
(Masih希望讓世界知道發生了什麼。他與阿富汗媒體的訪談促使我們與他聯繫，並於四月
在喀布爾與他會面。此時，他已經花了數個月尋找答案。他仔細收集了證據，希望能夠證
實那天發生的事情。)
Some of this helped our investigation. First we needed to do the basics - to
verify that a strike had hit his house. We had to do this without visiting
the village, because it was not safe for reporters to go to the
Taliban-controlled area. From metadata contained in photos supplied by Masih,
we were able to obtain the coordinates of his home. We used these to get
satellite images which showed the house had been attacked, with the damage
consistent with a strike. A team from the Bureau and the The New York Times'
Visual Investigations unit also reviewed photos of Masih’s children’s
graves and found satellite images of the burial site. Both the damage to the
house and the burial site are only visible in satellite images after
September 23.
(其中一些有助於我們的調查。首先，我們需要弄清基本事實 - 驗證襲擊擊中了他的房子
。我們必須在不親自訪問該村莊的情況下完成此事，因為記者去塔利班控制區是不安全的
。根據Masih提供的照片中包含的元資料，我們能夠獲得他家的地理坐標。我們使用這些
來獲取衛星圖像，顯示房屋遭到襲擊，其損壞與襲擊一致。The Bureau和紐約時報組成的
小組還審查了Masih孩子們墓地的照片，並找到了埋葬地點的衛星圖像。損壞的房屋和墓
地的存在僅在9月23日之後的衛星圖像中可見。)
Crucially, we also were given photos of weapon fragments said to be found at
the site of the strike. While most were nondescript, a few pieces had
distinctive markings. On one piece we could see what is known as a “CAGE code
” - this is a unique identifier given to companies which supply government
or defence agencies. This code linked the fragment to a US-based company
called Woodward, that makes components for a missile kit known as a JDAM.
These enable bombs to be guided by GPS.
(至關重要的是，我們還獲得了據說是在襲擊現場所發現的武器碎片的照片。雖然大多數
都是不起眼的，但有一些碎片有明顯的標記。在其中一片上，我們可以看到所謂的“CAGE
代碼” - 這是政府或國防機構供應商的唯一識別碼。該代碼將該碎片連接到一家名為
Woodward的美國公司，該公司生產導彈套件的組件，稱為JDAM。這些裝置使得炸彈能夠接
受GPS的引導。)
Weapons experts then reviewed the photos, and saw something else - the
distinctive pattern of four bolts on a tail fin that identified it as part of
a JDAM.
(武器專家審查了這些照片，並看到了其他東西---尾部安定翼上的四個螺栓的獨特圖案，
辨識出碎片為JDAM的一部分。)
We trawled defence and aviation news archives and found the Afghan military
did not have capability to use JDAMs. The only other military carrying out
strikes in Afghanistan is America’s.
(我們搜索了國防和航空新聞檔案，發現阿富汗軍方沒有能力使用JDAM。唯一在阿富汗進
行襲擊的其他軍事力量是美軍。)
We asked the weapons experts which military could have dropped the bomb and
they confirmed what we had learned - only the US military has the capability
to use JDAMs in Afghanistan.
(我們詢問了武器專家哪些軍事力量可以投放炸彈，他們證實了我們所得知的事---只有美
國軍方有能力在阿富汗使用JDAM。)
After four and a half years of recording civilian casualties from strikes in
Afghanistan, we were finally able to say for certain who pushed the button on
one.
(在阿富汗記錄平民遭襲擊傷亡四年半之後，我們終於能夠肯定地說，在一次事件中是誰
按下了發射鈕。)
Answering the why
(找出原因)
While we believe our investigation answers the who, the why is less clear.
(我們相信我們查出了是誰幹的，但原因為何並不是那麼清楚。)
The US’s final statement - that they dropped a bomb on the house after
American soldiers reported being fired on - tallies in part with one villager
who said the soldiers were shot at from civilian homes. However two others
say everything was quiet in the area by the time the strike happened.
(在美國的最後聲明中，他們在美國士兵報告遭到射擊後投下炸彈。這部分與一名村民所
說的吻合，即這些士兵是遭到從平民家中來的槍擊。然而另外兩人說襲擊發生時該地區的
一切都很安靜。)
Perhaps a clue lies in the location of the house, which was set apart from
the rest of the village, very close to a Taliban prison. We know an operation
on the prison was carried out, with villagers claiming that a number of
security force members being held inside were rescued during the raid. It’s
possible that Masih’s house was hit by accident.
(也許一個線索就在於房子的位置，該房屋與村莊的其他部分分開，非常靠近塔利班監獄
。我們知道軍隊針對監獄進行了一次行動，村民們聲稱在襲擊中有一些被關押在裡面的安
全部隊成員獲救。 Masih的房子可能被意外襲擊了。)
This panorama shows how close the two buildings were:
(這幅全景圖顯示了兩座建築物的距離：(請參照原網頁中附圖))
Without full military transparency, these questions will remain unanswered.
And whatever the reason for the attack, the US still claims it did not kill
any civilians.
(如果軍方沒有完全的公開透明，這些問題仍將無法解決。無論襲擊的原因是什麼，美國
仍然聲稱它沒有殺死任何平民。)
Soaring civilian deaths
(飆升的平民死亡人數)
Our investigation raises serious questions about US military accountability.
(我們的調查引發了有關美國軍方責任的嚴重質疑。)
Last year, the UN found that US military operations in Afghanistan killed and
injured 632 civilians - more than double the year before. The US military has
admitted to just over 20 percent of that figure. The reason for the
discrepancy, says the US, is that they have access to intelligence such as
drone footage which shows that “what often looks like civilian harm from US
actions was actually a result of other causes.”
(去年，聯合國發現美國在阿富汗的軍事行動造成632名平民傷亡，是前一年的兩倍還多。
美國軍方只承認這個數字增加了20％多一點。美國表示，這種差異的原因在於，他們可以
獲得諸如無人機鏡頭等情報，這表明“通常看起來像美國行動造成的平民傷害實際上是其
他原因造成的。”)
In its first statement back in October, the US spokesperson had warned us: “
It isn't uncommon for insurgents to use these accusations to drive a wedge
between the military and the population. As Secretary Mattis has said: 'We do
everything humanly possible consistent with military necessity, taking many
chances to avoid civilian casualties at all costs. “
(美國發言人在10月份發表的第一份聲明中警告我們：“叛亂分子利用這些指控在軍隊和
民眾之間見逢插針的情況並不少見。正如Mattis部長所說的那樣：“我們盡一切可能符合
軍事需要，同時不惜一切代價避免平民傷亡。)
“'We're not perfect guys, but we are the good guys. And so we're doing what
we can.'”
(“'我們不是完美的人，但我們是好人。所以我們正在盡我所能。“)
There have been calls for change, even from the Pentagon itself. It released
a report in February highlighting concerns about how the US military
investigates and responds to civilian casualties. The military was sometimes
seen as “restrictive” in how it assessed allegations of civilian harm
received from organisations like the Bureau or NGOs, it said.
(甚至五角大樓裡面也有人要求改變。它在2月份發布了一份報告，強調了對美國軍方如何
調查和應對平民傷亡的擔憂。在如何評估從The Bureau或其它非政府組織收到的有關平民
傷害的指控時，軍方有時顯得“綁手綁腳”。)
The report also found that different regional military commands had different
processes for reviewing civilian casualties. The US is now developing the
first military-wide policy on civilian casualties, which has sparked hopes
that things may improve.
(該報告還發現，不同的區域軍事指揮部有不同的審查平民傷亡的程序。美國正在制訂首
項關於平民傷亡的軍事政策，這帶來了改善事態的希望。)
For Masih, the pursuit of justice continues. The little money the family
managed to save as a result of his work in Iran is now being used for this
battle.
(對Masih來說，追求正義仍在繼續。由於他在伊朗工作所得，之前家庭設法節省的一筆錢
現在正用於這場戰鬥。)
“We have a saying; staying silent against injustice is a crime, therefore I
will spread my voice throughout the world,” Masih said. “I will talk to
everyone, everywhere. I will not stay silent.
(“我們有一個說法：對不公正保持沉默是一種犯罪，因此我將在全世界傳播我的聲音，
“Masih說。 “我會和每個角落的每個人談一談。我不會保持沉默。”)
“But this is Afghanistan. If someone hears us, or not, we will still raise
our voice.”
(“然而這裡是阿富汗。無論有沒有人聽到我們，我們仍會大聲疾呼。“)
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