“那些为了换取一点暂时的安全而放弃根本自由的人，既不配拥有自由，也不配拥有安全。”——本杰明·富兰克林 2005年3月8日，乔治·布什总统援引阿富汗、伊拉克和巴勒斯坦方面的进展表示，民主正开始在中东地区蔓延，并称“专制统治是一个已被唾弃的过去的最后喘息”。布什政府及其支持者抓住中东局势的变化，对民主改革以及美国在该地区的地位给出了乐观的评价。

“Those that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” -- Benjamin Franklin On the 8th of March 2005, President George Bush citing progress in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine said that democracy was beginning to spread across the Middle East and that “the authoritarian rule is the last gasp of a discredited past.” The Bush administration and its supporters have seized upon the events in the Middle East to give an upbeat assessment of democratic reform and America’ s standing in the region.

有些人甚至将其与铁幕的倒塌相提并论，另一些人则认为，这证明了自9/11以来布什的外交政策是正确的。

Some have even gone far as making comparisons with the fall of the iron curtain, while others are pointing to a vindication of Bush’ s foreign policy since 9/11.

然而，在这些修辞背后，布什所主张的向中东及世界其他地区输出民主的构想，远未达到美国在否定选举结果、谴责独裁者、向各国发出警告时经常采用的那套民主标准。

However, behind the rhetoric, Bush’ s vision of exporting democracy to the Middle East and other parts of the world falls way short of the very same democracy standard America routinely employs to dismiss election results, castigate despots, and put states on notice.

民主的一项核心原则要求人民在一个公正的环境中选择合法的代表，这种环境不受地方势力的恐吓，也不受外国干预。布什在将这一标准应用于乌克兰方面反应迅速，最近又用于黎巴嫩。

A central tenet of democracy requires people to choose legitimate representation in an environment that is impartial, free from local intimidation and foreign intervention. Bush was quick to apply this standard to Ukraine and more recently to Lebanon.

在乌克兰的案例中，布什违背了这一标准，因为有证据表明，美国大使馆在推动尤先科的“橙色革命”中起了主导作用。

In the case of Ukraine, Bush contravened this standard, as evidence emerged that the US embassy was responsible for spearheading Yushchenko’ s “Orange Revolution”.

在黎巴嫩，华盛顿公开煽动并支持“雪松革命”，并要求即将举行的选举只有在黎巴嫩完全摆脱叙利亚占领的情况下才能公正自由，这种做法令人嗤之以鼻，充满虚伪。

In Lebanon, Washington’ s open incitement and support for the “Cedar Revolution” and its demand that forthcoming elections cannot be fair and free, unless Lebanon is completely free of Syrian occupation stinks of hypocrisy.

难道阿富汗、伊拉克和巴勒斯坦的选举不是在美国和以色列的占领之下举行的吗？候选人难道不是经过美国的审查吗？选举前和选举当天的氛围难道不是充满不安全感和恐惧吗？选举结果难道不是被操纵，选举过程难道不是被导演和控制的吗？显然，所有这些问题的答案都是斩钉截铁的“是”。因此，这些国家的选举只能被描述为不公平、不合法，并且是强加给人民的。

Were not the elections in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine held under American and Israeli occupation? Were not the candidates vetted by America? Was not the atmosphere prior to and on the day of the elections one of insecurity and fear? Were not the election results manipulated and the electoral process staged and managed? Clearly the answer to all of these questions is a defiant “yes”. Hence the elections in these countries can only be described as unfair, illegal and imposed on the people.

但是，按照布什的民主标准，阿富汗、伊拉克和巴勒斯坦那些可疑的选举却是巨大的成功。即便以第三世界的标准衡量，这样的选举也早该被宣布无效。

But according to Bush’ s democracy yardstick the dodgy elections in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine were a resounding success. Even by third world standards such elections would have been declared null and void.

同样,布什也未能依照他所设定的民主标准来评估巴基斯坦、埃及和沙特阿拉伯。

Likewise, Bush has failed to evaluate Pakistan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia against his benchmark for democracy.

穆沙拉夫在2002年举行的那场虚假公投、穆巴拉克即将进行的那场流于形式的总统选举，以及不允许妇女参加投票的沙特市政选举，都只能被视为对民主的控诉。

Musharraf’ s sham referendum in 2002, Mubarak’ s upcoming presidential façade and the Saudi municipal elections, which bars women from participating, can only be regarded as an indictment against democracy.

与惩罚这些颠覆民主的国家相反，布什却给予它们数十亿美元的援助，并为它们辩护，只发表了温和的批评。这一点在布什的就职演说之后表现得尤为明显。

Rather than punishing these states for subverting democracy, Bush has rewarded them with billions of dollars in aid and offered muted criticisms in their defence. This was particularly evident, after Bush’ s inauguration address.

美国国务院匆忙向埃及、巴基斯坦和沙特阿拉伯的统治者保证，他们并非该演讲的目标。

The US State department scuttled to assure the rulers of Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia that they were not targets of his speech.

讽刺的是,伊朗与埃及和沙特阿拉伯加起来相比,要相对更加民主,却被列为政权更迭的目标。然而,美国更关心的是夺取伊朗庞大的石油和天然气储量,而不是在伊朗培育民主。1953年,美国因担心伊朗石油被国有化,罢免了当时经民选产生的总理穆罕默德·摩萨台博士,并以绝对君主主义者沙阿取而代之。

Ironically, Iran, which is comparatively more democratic than Egypt and Saudi Arabia put together, has been earmarked for regime change. However, America is more concerned about securing Iran’ s huge oil and gas reserves than about nurturing democracy in Iran. In 1953, America worried about the nationalisation of Iranian oil removed the then elected Prime Minister, Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh and replaced him with the Shah – an absolute monarchist.

美国一直热衷于高调宣称要在全球推广民主与自由，与此同时却扶持专制政权，这种做法早有恶名。1947年3月12日，杜鲁门总统说道：“美国外交政策的主要目标之一，是创造这样一种条件：我们和其他国家能够在不受胁迫的情况下，探索一种自由的生活方式……通过直接或间接的侵略强加于自由民族的极权政权，破坏了国际和平的基础，进而危及美国的安全。”vii 此后，美国以“杜鲁门主义”为武器，在整个穆斯林世界破坏民主与自由，以换取对资源的攫取，为其跨国公司牟利，并维护其战略利益。美国的手段是扶持各种形式的世俗专制政权、君主制和酋长国。

America‘s obsession with making bold claims about spreading democracy and liberty, while simultaneously propping up despotic regimes has a notorious history. On March 12 1947, President Truman said, “One of the primary objectives of the foreign policy of the United States is the creation of conditions in which we and other nations will be able to work out a way of life free from coercion…totalitarian regimes imposed on free peoples, by direct or indirect aggression, undermine the foundations of international peace and hence the security of the United States.” vii Henceforth, America armed with the “Truman Doctrine” proceeded to sabotage democracy and freedom throughout the Muslim world in return for exploiting resources for her multinational corporations and safeguarding her strategic interests. America did this by supporting all manners of secular autocracies, monarchies and sheikhdoms.

布什对民主穆斯林世界的构想与杜鲁门主义如出一辙。两者中，所谓输出民主与自由，以及对独裁政权的支持，都完全服从于美国企业的利益。

Bush’ s vision for a democratic Muslim world is the same as the Truman Doctrine. In both, the exporting of democracy and liberty, as well as the support for dictatorships is totally subservient to American corporate interests.

美国并非唯一以西方价值观为幌子、推进自身企业利益的国家。英国、法国和欧盟等其他西方强国，也与美国一道践踏这些价值观。十九世纪废除奴隶制、二十世纪推动殖民地独立，其动因完全是列强之间为争夺其珍贵资源而展开的竞争。输出西方价值观，在它们看来是最不值得关心的事。

America is not alone in promoting its corporate interests dressed up in western values. Other western powers most notably Britain, France and the EU compete with the US in trouncing these values. The banishment of slavery in the 19th century and drive to grant independence to colonies in the 20th century were solely motivated by rivalry between great powers to hold onto their precious resources. Exporting western values was the least of their concerns.

今天，欧盟与美国之间围绕穆斯林世界的资源，尤其是其能源储备，正展开一场激烈的争夺。布什以自由和民主为掩护，试图推翻那些亲欧洲或向欧洲寻求指导与援助的政权。欧美在石油和天然气上的冲突，可以在苏丹、摩洛哥（西撒哈拉问题）、伊拉克、阿富汗、伊朗、利比亚以及海湾酋长国等穆斯林国家中看到。

Today, there is a bitter struggle between the EU and America over the resources of the Muslim world, in particular its energy reserves. Bush under the cover of freedom and democracy is seeking to remove those regimes that are either pro-European or look towards Europe for guidance and assistance. The EU-US conflict over oil and gas can be found in Muslim countries like Sudan, Morocco (Western Sahara issue), Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Libya, and the Gulf sheikhdoms.

那些仍然被西方价值观迷惑的少数穆斯林需要认识到,西方列强并不关心穆斯林世界的解放,也无意赋予穆斯林自由和民主。

Those minority of Muslims who are still enchanted by western values need to realise that the western powers are not interested in the liberation of the Muslim world. Nor are they interested in granting Muslims freedom and democracy.

这些穆斯林应当略微看看西方国家的国内事务，他们很快就会明白，西方的价值观只是一个神话。英国的反恐法、美国的《爱国者法案》、关塔那摩和贝尔马什（英国）对穆斯林的无限期拘押，以及阿布格莱布、巴格拉姆和巴士拉对穆斯林囚犯的羞辱，都明显贬低了它们所标榜的价值观。

These Muslims should take a quick look at the domestic affairs of western countries and they will quickly learn that western values are only a myth. The anti-terror laws in Britain, the Patriot Act in the US, the indefinite detention of Muslims in Guantanamo and Belmarsh (UK) and the humiliation of Muslim prisoners in Abu Ghraib, Bagram and Basra clearly belittle their values.

至于西方人，他们需要认真审视本国政府如何以反恐战争为借口，制定严苛的法律，将他们原本自由的社会转变为极权主义社会。

As for westerners, they need to take a serious look at how their governments are using the war on terrorism as an excuse to enact draconian laws that are transforming their liberal societies into totalitarian ones.

诸如无需审判的监禁、公民被拘押、法外酷刑、权力集中于行政机关之手、未经选举产生的政府顾问、部长推翻司法裁决、更严格的新闻限制、预先包装的新闻报道、信息封锁以及对个人隐私的侵犯等措施，直接冲击着自由民主制度的核心。

Measures such as imprisonment without trial, internment of citizens, extra judicial torture, concentration of power in the hands of the executive, unelected government advisors, ministers over-ruling the judiciary, greater press restrictions, pre-packaged news stories, suppression of information and intrusion into personal privacy strike at the very heart of liberal democracies.

美国和欧洲将多快转变为极权主义的堡垒，取决于美国人和欧洲人是否把自由和民主置于安全之上。

How soon America and Europe transform themselves into a fortress of totalitarianism depends upon whether Americans and Europeans value liberty and democracy above safety.

2005年3月17日

March 17, 2005