CIA拷問報告以及美國的正統性危機

Conflicts over the release of a long-delayed US Senate investigation report into the Central Intelligence Agency's torture program have produced a deepening crisis for the Obama administration. Under conditions where the expanding repressive apparatus of the American state—from the CIA and the NSA down to local police departments—is increasingly viewed as illegitimate, there are growing concerns in ruling circles about the international and domestic consequences of the public release of a report exposing systematic criminality at the highest levels.

由於美國參議院針對CIA刑訊醜聞的調查報告公佈時間長期拖延引發爭議，令奧巴馬政府進一步陷入危機。在美國政府部門上到CIA和NSA，下到地方警察局刑訊逼供都不斷擴大的情況下，越來越多的人認爲這是違法行爲，並且令統治階層關注到公開這份暴露高層系統性犯罪行爲的報告會引發國際和國內影響。

It emerged on Friday that Secretary of State John Kerry took the unprecedented step of contacting Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein directly to urge her to "consider" further delaying the release of the report. Feinstein, a Democrat from California, chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, which was responsible for producing the report. According to State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki, Kerry made the call "becase a lot is going on in the world, and he wanted to make sure that foreign policy implications were being appropriately factored into timing."

週五，國務卿克里史無前例的致電民主黨參議員費斯坦因，直接要求她“考慮”進一步推遲公開該報告。費斯坦因加州的民主黨人士，主持參議院情報委員會的工作，目前負責該項調查活動。根據國務院發言人帕薩其的說法，克里打電話“是由於報告中很多內容已經公諸於世，他希望確定正確的公佈時間避免對外交政策產生影響。”

The implications for American imperialist foreign policy are obvious. The government of the United States asserts the power to invade, bomb and carry out "humanitarian intervention" and "regime change" anywhere in the world in the name of protecting "human rights." Meanwhile, top military, civilian and intelligence officials of that same country are implicated in the gravest violations of human rights, as well as in conspiracies to cover up those crimes—and nobody has been held accountable.

美帝國主義外交政策的寓意非常明顯。美國政府能夠以保護“人權”的名義，堅持以武力入侵、轟炸世界上任何地區並且實施“人道主義干預”和“政權更迭”活動。同時，這個國家的最高的軍事、民事和情報官員們卻牽扯到最殘忍的違反人權行爲，並且密謀袒護罪犯，至今沒有人爲此負責。

Just as concerning for the ruling class, however, are the report's domestic consequences—further exposing a state apparatus that is already deeply unpopular in the eyes of the vast majority of the population.

然而，就統治階層的擔心而言，這份報告對國內產生的影響會進一步暴露出在絕大多數民衆眼中，刑訊手段已經非常不受歡迎。

The record of CIA torture and the subsequent investigations into it are a story of crime topped upon crime. The CIA torture program, which was launched in 2002 with the direct involvement of top officials in the Bush administration, was apparently more brutal even than has been publicly acknowledged so far. "This was real torture," a confidential source told the Telegraph earlier this year, calling the methods "medieval." It goes without saying that torture is an illegal act, violating both international law as well as the US Constitution.

CIA的刑訊記錄和隨後對此的調查是一部以暴制暴式的歷史。CIA的刑訊活動於2002年開始實施，直接牽扯到布什政府最高領導人，明顯比目前公開承認的情況更加殘忍。“那是真正的折磨，”一位機密人士今年初告訴電訊報記者，認爲這些刑訊方法堪比“中世紀”。但刑訊活動一直持續，認爲這些並非違法行爲，沒有違反國際法以及美國憲法。

However, the Senate report is not limited to the torture itself. It also documents the CIA's systematic and criminal campaign over subsequent years to cover up the program. For example, in November 2005, the CIA destroyed tapes that it had made of torture at a secret "black site" in Thailand. (The Obama administration, under its doctrine of "looking forward not backward," refused to prosecute the CIA officials involved in destroying this key evidence.)

然而，參議院的報告並未侷限於刑訊本身，還記錄了CIA在隨後時間裏採取了系統性犯罪活動以掩蓋刑訊行爲。例如，2005年11月，CIA蓄意破壞了一個泰國祕密“黑牢”裏實施刑訊的錄像。（奧巴馬政府基於“向前看而不是向後追溯”的準則，拒絕起訴涉及破壞關鍵證據的CIA官員。）

The Senate Intelligence Committee investigation began in 2009, and the report was completed in December 2012. Kerry's phone call is only the latest in a long series of efforts by the Obama administration and the CIA to obstruct the report's release. Earlier this year, Feinstein revealed that the CIA had broken into the computers of staff working for the Senate Intelligence Committee and had attempted to erase evidence of CIA crimes. Subsequently, the CIA wiped additional files in order to conceal evidence of the electronic break-in from a congressional sergeant-at-arms investigation.

2009年參議院情報委員會開始着手調查，並且在2012年完成了該報告。克里的電話只是奧巴馬政府和CIA企圖阻止報告公佈漫長過程中最新一次舉動。今年初，費因斯天透漏CIA曾經侵入參議院情報委員會工作人員的電腦，企圖刪除CIA犯罪的證據。根據國會安保部門調查顯示，隨後CIA刪除了附加文件，以掩蓋其通過網絡入侵的證據。

One possibility is that the Obama administration hopes to delay the release of the report until control of Congress changes into the hands of the Republican Party, after which it will be easier to justify burying it altogether. Even so, the Senate Intelligence Committee does not intend to release the full 6,200-page report to the public. Instead, only a roughly 500-page "executive summary" will ever see the light of day. The CIA has been permitted to make redactions, which according to media reports account for roughly 15 percent of the text.

有種可能性是奧巴馬政府希望推遲報告公佈時間，直到國會易手爲共和黨控制， 這樣將更容易爲徹底埋葬報告進行辯解。即便如此，情報委員會並不打算將全部的6200頁報告公之於衆。相反，只會公佈約500頁的“簡要”。CIA已經獲准進行校對，根據媒體報告，校對內容佔全部報告的約15%。

While Feinstein has postured as a critic of the CIA torture program, she and the rest of the congressional Democrats are just as complicit in the program as the Republicans. In an opinion piece in the Washington Post on Friday, Jose A. Rodriguez Jr.—the CIA official who was responsible for the destruction of the torture videos in 2005—pointed out that "leaders of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees and of both parties in Congress were briefed on the program more than 40 times between 2002 and 2009." Rodriguez added, "Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) tried to deny that she was told in 2002 that detainees had been waterboarded. That is simply not true. I was among those who briefed her."

雖然費斯坦因對CIA的刑訊活動持批評態度，但她和過去其他民主黨議員一樣與共和黨人串通一氣。在週五華盛頓郵報的一篇評論中， Jose A. Rodriguez Jr——2005年負責破壞刑訊視頻的CIA官員，指出“2002至2009年間，參衆兩院情報委員會以及國會中的兩黨領導人聽取關於刑訊活動的彙報不下40次。”他還補充道“Pelosi試圖否認2002年她曾被告知CIA對囚犯們採取了水刑。那是假話，我就是向她報告的人之一。”

Whatever tactical differences exist among the various factions of the ruling class, the bitterness of the mutual recriminations—and Kerry's extraordinary phone call—point to a mood of panic behind closed doors. Internationally as well as domestically, the lies and pretenses of the American state are being discredited in the eyes of millions.

無論統治階層不同部分間存在什麼樣的戰略差異，以及相互指責中存在的苦楚，以及克里非同尋常的電話，都指向幕後存在的一種恐慌情緒。無論國內還是國外，在無數人的眼中美國都被認爲是虛僞和謊言的代名詞。

There is a profound connection between criminality abroad and criminality at home. The so-called "war on terror" and military aggression abroad are linked to repression within the United States. As the WSWS has warned, the drive by the American ruling class to build up the infrastructure of a police state is in preparation for the inevitable confrontation with the working class. This is what lies behind the unprecedented levels of domestic spying, the assault on basic democratic rights, the CIA's trampling on legality and the Constitution, the militarization of law enforcement and the ongoing police rampage against working-class youth.

無論在國內和國外，犯罪行爲都會緊密聯繫。所謂的“反恐戰爭”以及對外軍事擴張都聯繫着對國內的壓迫。正如WSWS所警告的那樣，美國統治階層趨向於打造警察國家的基礎，那麼不可避免的就要準備着與工人階級產生對抗。這體現爲史無前例的對內間諜行爲，對基本民主權利的攻擊，CIA踐踏法律和憲法的行爲，執法部門軍事化行動以及正在上演的警察肆無忌憚的鎮壓工薪階層年輕人的行爲。

The ongoing behind-the-scenes conflict over the CIA torture report comes as the American political establishment has been rattled in recent weeks by nationwide protests over multiple separate incidents where police officers were not held accountable for serious crimes, including the killings of Eric Garner in New York and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. In the working class, conclusions are being drawn. Just as there are no consequences for top government officials who authorize torture and assassination abroad, there are no consequences for police officers who commit murder at home. Nor are there any consequences, for that matter, for financial aristocrats whose illegal and speculative investments crashed the economy in 2008. Instead, war criminals continue to occupy top posts in the government, killer cops are placed on paid administrative leave or allowed a comfortable retirement and billionaire financial criminals are rewarded with free cash in the form of bailouts from the public treasury.

最近幾周因警察嚴重犯罪卻沒有受到追責，多起獨立事件包括：紐約的加納事件和弗格森的布朗事件在內，引發全國性示威遊行。 伴隨這些問題的發生，以及目前正在幕後發酵的針對CIA刑訊報告的爭議一起令美國政治當權派飽受詬病。工人階級已經得出定論，即正如那些下命令在國外實施刑訊和暗殺行爲的最高政府官員們沒有下文一樣，國內的警察實施謀殺後也是不了了之。另外，對於那些金融大鱷，他們非法投機經營導致2008年經濟崩潰，也都沒有任何結果。相反，戰爭罪犯們繼續在政府中身居高位，殺人的警察享受着帶薪休假或坐擁豐厚的退休金退休，並且億萬身價的經濟罪犯通過公共財政的救助收益頗豐。

A picture is emerging of a political and social system that is essentially a criminal conspiracy to intimidate, deceive and rob the population, involving Democrats, Republicans and all the auxiliary political agents of the ruling class. Under these conditions, "restoring legitimacy" is a top priority in ruling circles. On Thursday, Obama—employing a hefty dose of identity politics aimed at obscuring the basic class issues—spoke of “strengthening relationships" between "law enforcement" and minority "communities," and of "restoring a sense of common purpose."

把政治和社會系統描繪成一幅圖畫，那實質上就是一夥罪犯串通一氣恐嚇、欺騙並且劫掠民衆，包括民主黨、共和黨以及統治階層的政治附庸。這種情況下，統治階層的首要任務是“恢復法制”。奧巴馬採取了一種強硬的身份政治手段，目的在於模糊階級基礎。週四，他宣稱要“加強執法部門和少數民族的關係，”並且要“重塑一個共同的目的感。”

"I am absolutely committed," he added, "as president of the United States, to making sure that we have a country in which everyone believes [Obama emphasized this word] in the core principle that we are equal under the law." He stressed that the police could only "do their jobs effectively" if "everyone has confidence in the system.” On the contrary, workers in the United States and internationally must draw exactly those conclusions that frighten Obama and the rest of the political establishment the most: that the system is precisely the problem.

“我絕對堅守承諾，”他補充道“作爲美國總統，我確保我們國家中每個人都堅信（說到這奧巴馬加強語調）國家的核心理念，即法律面前人人平等。”他強調如果“每個人都對這一系統抱有信心”，警察部門“會有效的開展工作。”反過來說，美國國內和國外的工人階級必須得出這些精確的結論，即令奧巴馬和其他政治當權派們最爲驚恐的是國家系統本身出現問題。

No confidence can be placed in efforts to "reform" this or that criminal practice under conditions where the entire social system is closing ranks for an assault against the interests of the vast majority of the population. To fight back, the working class must orient itself towards socialism—that is, towards the overthrow and replacement of the outmoded world capitalist system, which is the essential cause of social inequality, war, violence and the disintegration of democratic forms of rule.

在這種情況下，整個社會系統成爲少數階級團結起來損害絕大多數民衆的利益，還要努力去“改革”這種或那種犯罪行爲，則還有什麼人會樹立起信心。爲了反擊，工人階級必須自我樹立方向，走向社會主義，就是說想着推翻和取代世界上過時的資本主義系統前進。因爲這是造成社會不平等、戰爭、暴力和民主統治瓦解的實質根源。