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　　Britain Northern Ireland

　　英国 北爱尔兰

　　The bones of the past

　　历史的遗骨

　　Another troubling reminder that Britain, attimes, plays dirty

　　又一令人不安的提示：英国不时使阴招

　　Mrs Finucane guards the flame

　　斐努凯恩夫人守护爱人

　　David Cameron has proved adept, in dealing with historical issues arising from the conflict inNorthern Ireland, at employing the simple but effective tactic of declining to defend theindefensible. His handsome and forthright apology over the Bloody Sunday killings by Britishforces in 1972 earned him much kudos in Ireland.

　　在处理由北爱尔兰的争端引起的历史议题时，大卫·卡梅隆证明自己擅长使用简单而不是强词夺理的有效策略。他关于英国军方在1972年造成的“血腥星期日”的深刻而坦率的道歉令他在爱尔兰备受赞誉。

　　This week, after an official report detailed wrongdoing by British intelligence officers morethan two decades ago, he went to the House of Commons and described it as “shocking” atleast four times. “It is really shocking,” he said, “that this happened in our country.”

　　本周，在一份官方报告详细描述了四十多年前英国情报官员的不当行为之后，他前往下议院演讲，并至少四次用“骇人听闻”形容这一事件。“这样的事件竟然发生在我们的国家，”他说，“这简直骇人听闻。”

　　He was speaking about the murder of Pat Finucane, a Catholic solicitor gunned down in 1989 byassassins who resented his effectiveness in representing republicans. The gunmen weremembers of the loyalist Ulster Defence Association (UDA), a collection of brutal backstreetgangs, but immediately after the murder rumours circulated that they had been directed byBritish security personnel. Those allegations, which many thought far-fetched at the time,have now been formally confirmed.

　　他所说的是对帕特·斐努凯恩的谋杀。死者是一名天主教律师，他在北爱尔兰共和主义者中具有卓尔不凡的号召力，也因此招致仇恨，在1989年被暗杀。枪手是阿尔斯特防卫团的忠实成员，该团是一帮野蛮的街头流氓，但在暗杀之后流言蜚语四散，表示他们是受英国安全人员指派而行事。这些在当时看来站不住脚的指控如今已被官方证实。

　　The report by Sir Desmond de Silva, the lawyer commissioned by Mr Cameron to go throughthe papers in the case, lays out in meticulous detail how senior army and police intelligenceofficers colluded in the killings of Finucane and other republican sympathisers. This includedhelping to identify, target and murder the lawyer, supplying a weapon and facilitating its laterdisappearance, and deliberately obstructing subsequent investigations. On three occasionsFinucane was known to be on UDA death lists but police, with the approval of the army andMI5,Britain’s domestic intelligence service, gave him no warning. The very idea of killing himwas probably suggested to a UDA member by a police officer, Sir Desmond concluded. Therewas a flow of security-force information to the UDA: perhaps 85% of its intelligence camefrom official sources.

　　律师戴斯蒙德·席尔瓦受卡梅隆先生委托，调查这起案件的公文。他的报告纤毫毕现地陈述了军方高级官员和警方情报人员合谋杀害斐努凯恩和其他共和派同情者的事实。这包括了帮助确认身份，定位并暗杀律师，提供武器支持，并在之后藏匿，想方设法阻挠后续调查。知情人士三次得知斐努凯恩在阿尔斯特防卫团的死亡名单上，但警方在军队和英国国家情报局MI5的授意下没有警示斐努凯恩。戴斯蒙德总结道，刺杀斐努凯恩的想法极有可能是一位警方官员授意给阿尔斯特防卫团的。阿尔斯特防卫团接受到源源不断的安全情报，其中可能有85%是官方来源。

　　It also seems that two British agents working in the ranks of the UDA were involved inFinucane’s actual murder. One, planted there by the army, had gathered information on him andcarried out a reconnaissance of his home. The second, working for the police, held guns forthe UDA, and handed to a “hit team” a weapon used in the attack on Finucane. His handlersknew someone was to be shot: the de Silva report concluded that police could have acted toprevent the murder.

　　也有证据表明两名在阿尔斯特防卫团卧底的英国特工参与了斐努凯恩的谋杀。其中一名受命于军队，收集关于他的信息并实行了对其住所的侦查。另一个受命于警方，为阿尔斯特防卫团掌管武器并将武器提供给“行动组”，最终在暗杀中得到使用。他的幕僚知道有人将被暗杀。席尔瓦在报告中断定警方本可以采取行动防止谋杀的发生。

　　A third loyalist, who drove the gunmen to the solicitor’s home, was not an agent at the timebut later told police he had been involved. Detectives wished to pursue him for the murder but,in a move Mr Cameron described as “extraordinary”, a Special Branch superintendentintervened and instead ordered his recruitment as an agent. The investigation was effectivelydropped.

　　第三个是一位忠实成员，他开车把枪手送到律师的住所。当时他并不是一位特工但事后告诉警方他也涉及其中。警探希望能通过他接近谋杀的真相但一位特别部门的警察长插手干预，并招募他为特工。这一招在卡梅隆看来“精妙绝伦”。调查也就此中断。

　　One of the few notes of consolation for the government was the finding that there had beenno “over-arching state conspiracy to murder Patrick Finucane”, and that ministers weregenuinely in the dark about the murkier aspects of intelligence work in Belfast. The report did,however, accuse successive governments of “a wilful and abject failure” to provide guidelineson how agents should be handled within the law—a criticism that will resonate today in policeforces in England whose undercover agents have got up to no good.

　　仅有的几条让政府慰藉的记录之一就是尚无决定性的证据指向谋杀帕特里克-芬努凯恩是国家阴谋，以及大臣们确实对贝尔法斯特迷雾重重的情报工作一无所知。然而，报告指责“蓄意卑鄙”的历届政府提供给特工们如何在法律范围内行事的行动指南——这也是对今天英国警察部门的秘密特工所做坏事的侧面批评。

　　Much has changed in Northern Ireland since 1989. The army no longer patrols the streetsofBelfast, though a diminished UDA is still out there, rioting in recent weeks in a dispute overflags. The peace process, and the shared government it led to, are rightly seen as a toweringsuccess.

　　自1989年以来，北爱尔兰发生了天翻地覆的变化。尽管残余阿尔斯特防卫团的势力仍在作祟，在关于国旗的争端上引发了骚乱，但军队已不再巡视贝尔法斯特的街道。和平进程以及由此引出的自治政府被视为令人瞩目的成就。

　　But bits of the unburied past from time to time come to light, and require response. GeraldineFinucane calls this report into her husband’s death a “whitewash”. Mr Cameron is resistingdemands for a public inquiry into his death. Enough has already emerged to move Sir MenziesCampbell, a Liberal Democrat veteran, to declare to his fellow MPs that “in the more than 25years for which I have been a Member of this House, I cannot remember a statement from theDispatch Box that has filled me with more revulsion and horror.”

　　但历史的遗骨不时暴露在聚光灯下，并亟待回应。杰拉德灵·斐努凯恩称这份关于他丈夫之死的调查“掩饰真相”。卡梅隆拒绝了对斐努凯恩之死展开公开调查的诉求。这一切足以让门西斯坎培尔恼怒不堪。这位自民党元老向他的同僚宣称“在我当议员的25年多的生涯里，不曾在下议院听到过更令人恶心而恐惧的语言。