奥巴马要求国会同意关闭关塔那摩监狱

President Barack Obama has proposed a plan to close the US prison at Guantánamo Bay in a final effort to persuade a sceptical Congress to help him shut the controversial site before he leaves office, fulfilling a campaign pledge.

美国总统巴拉克奥巴马(Barack Obama)提出了一项计划，拟关闭美国在关塔那摩湾(Guantánamo Bay)的监狱。这是他最后一次试图劝说持怀疑态度的美国国会帮他在离任前关闭这一备受争议的场所，以让他能够兑现在竞选总统时作出的承诺。

Fifteen years after Guantánamo was opened to detain prisoners captured in Afghanistan, the US is holding 91 inmates at the site. While 35 detainees have been approved for transfer to other nations, the plan proposes moving the remaining detainees to one of 13 unnamed prisons in the US.

关塔那摩监狱设立于15年前，用来关押在阿富汗俘获的囚犯。目前里面关着91名囚犯，其中35人已获批转至其他国家，而上述计划建议将剩下的囚犯转至美国境内13所未具名监狱中的一所。

“For many years, it’s been clear that the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay does not advance our national security,” Mr Obama said on Tuesday. “Guantánamo harms our partnerships with allies and other countries, whose co-operation we need against terrorism...It is viewed as a stain on our broader record of upholding the highest standards of rule of law.”

奥巴马在周二表示：“多年来，关塔那摩湾的这座关押设施显然并未提升我们的国家安全。关塔那摩监狱破坏了我们与盟国及其他国家的合作关系，而我们需要这种合作来打击恐怖主义……在人们眼中，关塔那摩监狱是我们捍卫最高标准法治的整个记录中的一个污点。”

Guantánamo has remained a thorn in the side of the administration since Mr Obama took office in 2008, following a presidential campaign in which he made closing the site one of the pillars of his foreign policy, along with ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. While critics of Guantánamo argue that it serves as a recruiting tool for terrorists, proponents of keeping it open say that it helps prevent future terrorist attacks against the US.

自奥巴马2008年上任以来，关塔那摩监狱就一直是奥巴马政府的眼中钉。在竞选总统时，奥巴马曾表示，关闭关塔那摩监狱以及结束伊拉克和阿富汗战争是他外交政策的支柱。虽然关塔那摩监狱的批评者声称该监狱起到了恐怖分子招募工具的作用，但支持继续设立这座监狱的人士表示，它有助于防范未来针对美国的恐怖袭击。

During his seven years in office, Mr Obama has failed to persuade Congress to help him close the prison. Congress has passed measures that ban the administration from moving detainees from Guantánamo to US soil. Most of the Republican presidential contenders have vowed to keep the prison open.

奥巴马在任7年以来，一直未能说服国会帮他关闭这座监狱。美国国会已通过法令，禁止政府将关塔那摩监狱关押的囚犯转至美国境内。大多数共和党总统竞选人都发誓要继续设立这座监狱。

In urging Congress to work with his administration, Mr Obama on Tuesday said he was “clear-eyed about the hurdles to finally closing Guantánamo”. To make his case, he argued that his predecessor, George W Bush, had wanted to close the site. He also stressed that the military commissions being used to try 10 detainees — including alleged 9/11 mastermind Khaled Sheikh Mohammed — at Guantánamo had not produced “a single verdict”.

周二，奥巴马在劝说国会与政府合作时表示，他“对最终关闭关塔那摩监狱面临的障碍有着清楚的认识”。为了证明自己的观点，他指出他的前任小布什(George W Bush)也曾想关闭这一场所。奥巴马还强调，用来审判10名关塔那摩监狱囚犯（其中包括涉嫌策划了“九一一”事件的哈立德谢赫穆罕默德(Khaled Sheikh Mohammed)）的特别军事法庭连“一个判决”都没有做出。

Mr Obama argued that the site, which last year cost $450m to run, was a big financial drain.Tackling claims that it would pose a threat to US security or complicate efforts to try the detainees, he pointed out that federal courts have already convicted terrorists such as Richard Reid, the shoe bomber.

关塔那摩监狱去年运营开销达4.5亿美元，奥巴马认为该监狱是一项巨大的财政负担。他驳斥了关闭该场所将对美国安全构成威胁或使在押犯审判工作复杂化的说法，指出联邦法院已为一些恐怖分子定了罪，比如“鞋子炸弹手”理查德里德(Richard Reid)。