【原创翻译】我曾以为那是最安全的地方（哈里所在营地）

作者：Sean Rayment，军事记者

It was often said of Camp Bastion that the only correct decision that Britain ever made during its torrid history in Afghanistan was to build the base in the middle of nowhere, with isolation as its primary strength.
关于堡垒营最流行的段子：英国在阿富汗的火烧屁股史中做出的唯一正确决定就是在不毛之地中央修了这么个茕茕孑立的基地当老巢。
Anyone approaching from any direction should be easily spotted, tracked, identified - and, if they pose a threat, destroyed. That was the theory.
任何人从任何方向靠近都会被轻易发现、跟踪、确认，以及消灭--如果他们想挑事。理论上是这样。
But the events of last Friday, when a force of Taliban gunmen managed to move up to and breach the Bastion’s security at around 10.15pm (local time), supposedly without being seen or heard, have sent a shock wave through Nato’s high command.
但上周五晚10点15分（当地时间）一票塔利班兰博组织了一次突破堡垒守卫的行动，而且貌似没被人发现。NATO高层隐然觉得有PIAPIA声。
Initial reports state that the Taliban had been monitoring the eastern side of Camp Bastion for at least two weeks and had been posing as farmers working in a nearby maize plantation.
初步报告表明，塔利班已在堡垒营东侧踩点至少2周，而且化妆成了在附近的苞谷地干活的农民。
The attack only ever had one aim. It was a suicide mission designed to demonstrate that the Taliban can attack any Nato installation, no matter how secure.
袭击只有一个目标。此次自杀式行动就是为了表明塔利班能够袭击任何NATO设施，管他怎么防卫。
A five-foot-high hole has reportedly been found in the outer fence which sits adjacent to the main runway. It is believed to have been caused by a suicide bomber detonating an explosive vest. One the fence had been breached, around 19 insurgents, many also wearing suicide vests, streamed forward firing rocket propelled grenades and mortars. Two US Marines were killed in the ensuing battle and five aircraft, including US Marine Corps Harrier jump jets and helicopters, were destroyed. A fuel storage tank and a helicopter maintenance tent were also hit and caught fire.
据报紧邻主跑道的外层围栏上发现了一个5英尺高的洞。据信这是一名穿着炸弹马甲的自杀式袭击者造成的。护栏一开，19人---可能也有炸弹马甲---用RPG和迫击炮一路碾压。接下来的战斗中2名美陆战队员阵亡，5架飞机被毁，包括USMC的垂直起降飞机和直升机。一辆油罐车和一个直升机维修站也被击中起火。
Camp Bastion became operational in April 2006, when the British Army moved into the Helmand badlands on a mission to bring security, assist local construction projects and help the Afghan government extend the rule of law.
堡垒营在2006年4月投入使用，那时英军前往赫尔曼德荒地执行安保任务，帮助当地工程建设，协助阿富汗政府扩大控制区。
In the intervening years, the base has grown in size, to cover around 20 square miles and now includes Bastion 1 and Bastion 2, Camp Leatherneck, home to thousands of US Marines and Camp Shorabak, the main Afghan National Army base in the province.
基地面积在数年中扩大至20平方英里，包括堡垒1区、堡垒2区，驻守数千USMC的陆战营，以及阿富汗陆军在本省的主基地绍拉巴克营。
In 2006, Bastion’s runway consisted of a 100-yard dirt strip, designed to handle three aircraft movements a week. Today it is one of the busiest UK-operated airports and currently handles 600 aircraft a day (18,000 a month), more traffic than Luton, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Leeds-Bradford or Coventry airports.
2006年，堡垒营只有100码宽的简易跑道，每周能承接三次飞行任务。今天它已经是英国治下最繁忙的空港之一，每天600假飞机起降（月达18,000），比卢顿、爱丁堡、伯明翰、利兹-布拉德福德或考文垂的空港都要拥挤。
As the years passed the Bastion, unimpeded by the distant possibility of a Taliban attack, grew in size to the garrison it is today. The camp boasts its own bottling plant capable of producing 15,000 gallons of drinking water a day. It has a field hospital, equipped with two portable x-ray machines, an operating theatre, radiographic equipment, CAT scanner and an intensive care unit capable of treating up to 20 seriously ill patients.
数年来都处在塔利班攻击范围以外的堡垒营，发展成了今日的要塞。堡垒营每日可生产15,000加仑饮用水的设备让它引以为荣。它还拥有野战医院，其中配备两台便携X光机，一个手术室，放射科设备，造影扫描仪以及可治疗20名重伤员的监护室。
Soldiers routinely jog round the perimeter or work out in one of the many gyms. They can relax in air-conditioned comfort in one of the Naafi bars and can Skype family and friends through the camps various internet sites.
士兵们在其中一个体育馆周边晃荡。他们可以在有空调的英军小卖部里放松，还能通过营里的网吧跟家人聊QQ。
Camp Bastion’s sheer size is breathtaking and its bright runway lights can be seen illuminating the inky black Helmand sky for many miles away.
堡垒营陡峭的轮廓如此壮观，赫尔曼德漆黑的夜空下能在数英里外看到跑道上的亮光。
I have visited Camp Bastion on more than a dozen occasions and have watched the base morph from a small tented village into the international, technologically-sophisticated town it is today. Despite being in the centre of the most dangerous province in Afghanistan, I always felt completely safe, certainly from Taliban attack, and honestly believed there was more chance of being run over by a military vehicle than being killed by insurgents.
我曾十多次前往堡垒营，目睹了它从一个只有几只帐篷的村庄发展成今天的国际化高科技城镇。尽管处于阿富汗最危险的省份中心，我却感到彻底的远离塔利班的安全，而且真心相信被入侵者干掉的几率还不如被车撞死的大。
In fact the only person that I have known ever to have been injured on the base was a fellow journalist who slipped into an irrigation ditch one dark evening while attempting to walk to the canteen without the aid of a torch.
实际上，在基地我见到唯一受伤的人是一名随军记者，因为黑夜里没带火炬，他在去小卖部的途中滑到了灌溉渠里。
My faith was based not on blissful ignorance but on Camp Bastion’s impressive security. The entire location is ringed by multiple 30ft high steel fences topped by triple concertina barbed wire, with an inner 30ft high blast wall which encompasses most of the inner camp.
我的信心建立在堡垒营令人印象深刻的安保上而不是盲目乐观。整个地区被30英尺高的顶头带刺的铁丝网围起来，里面有30英尺高的防爆墙围绕着内营的大部分。
Ground sensors, infrared and thermal imaging cameras, motion detectors and a specially designed radar can supposedly detect human or aircraft movements from 20 miles away.
Watch towers equipped with search lights and manned by heavily armed soldiers are sited every hundred yards or so along the perimeter, which is also patrolled by a specially trained force equipped with guard dogs.
地面感应器，红外热成像仪，运动检测器，以及可以在20英里外发现人员和飞行物的特制雷达。每隔一百码或差不多距离就有一个的瞭望塔，备有探照灯并驻守着重装士兵。此外还有配备警犬的特训部队巡逻。
Collectively this dazzling array of surveillance equipment is known as ISTAR – Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance. In terms of security it should have been fool proof.
这一组炫目的监视设备统称为ISTAR--情报，监视，目标识别与侦查。就安保而言，它应当是没有问题的。
In fact, Bastion’s supposedly unimpeachable security is said to be one of the reason’s why Prince Harry was allowed to serve in Afghanistan but never in Iraq, where virtually every British base, including the main Garrison at Basra airport, was subject to almost incessant rocket attack.
实际上，哈里王子被准许在阿富汗服役而不是伊拉克就是因为堡垒营被认为是万无一失的。在伊拉克，包括位于巴士拉机场的主营，英军基地实际上都是不间断的火箭袭击的目标。
So, given the security, watchtowers, motion sensors and thermal imagery, how did the Taliban manage to pull their most audacious publicity raid to date.
这样，考虑到这些卫兵，瞭望塔，运动传感器和热成像仪，塔利班怎么会把他们最大胆的公开袭击提上日程的呢？
One theory being considered is that the Taliban commander who masterminded the operation was acting on inside information and was given the precise location of a blind spot in the base’s security.
一种说法是指挥此次行动的塔利班首领有内线情报，并得到了基地守卫盲点的精确位置。
As well as the thousands of troops who live and work on the base, Bastion day-to-day running is supported by “locally employed contractors” known as LECs. Some may have worked on the base for several years and could have easily passed details of the base’s security on to the Taliban. It is also quite possible that a member of the Afghan National Army or the Police might have passed on information identifying potentially-vulnerable points within the camp’s perimeter.
除了工作生活在基地的数千士兵，堡垒营的日程运转是由被称作“临时工”的当地合同工维持的。其中一些已在基地工作了几年时间，有可能把基地守卫的细节传达给塔利班。阿富汗军队和警察也很有可能把确认营地潜在弱点的信息传递出去。
Once the point of attack had been located, the Taliban, according to the Afghan National Directorate of Security, monitored all the movements with the base for at least two weeks before launching the attack.
照阿富汗国家安全部门的说法，确认了袭击点的位置之后，塔利班在行动之前监视基地的运作至少两周。
The Taliban have demonstrated on countless occasions that they can breach supposedly high levels of security. In 2011, the Taliban dugs tunnels into Kandahar Prison in an audacious plan which allowed over 470 insurgents to escape. They have attacked key and supposedly secure areas in Kabul and assassinated political leaders, generals and police chiefs, whose personal security should have been high.
塔利班已经无数次证明他们能够突破本以为是高级别的防守。2011年，塔利班在一次大胆的劫狱计划中挖通了坎大哈的监狱，使得470名暴徒逃脱。他们袭击喀布尔的关键地区，暗杀政治人士，军官和警长，而这些人的本应受到高级别保护。
The worry for those responsible for Camp Bastion’s security is what will the Taliban do next. If the insurgents can breach security, could they get close enough to the airfield to shoot down a transport plane loaded with troops? Despite the Taliban death toll, the Bastion attack will be regarded as a success and like the IRA, another insurgent group adept at exploiting security lapses, the Taliban only repeat successes, never failures.
堡垒营安全负责人现在担心的是塔利班下一步会做什么。如果乱党能够突破防线，他们会不会离机场近到足以打下装满士兵的运输机呢？不考虑自己的伤亡，塔利班会把此次袭击当做一次胜利。像爱尔兰共和军-----另一伙善于利用防卫漏洞的乱贼-----一样，塔利班只会去重复成功的行动。
In 2007, I flew out of Camp Bastion in a Chinook helicopter, laden with so many troops it was standing room only. We landed in a cloud of dust in Patrol Base Inkerrman, then the most attacked British camp in Helmand. After we touched down the Regimental Sergeant Major of the Royal Anglians, told me that he believed that Nato was always “one day away” from disaster in Afghanistan.
2007年，我乘支奴干飞离堡垒营，挤满士兵的空间里勉强能落脚。沙尘滚滚中，我们降落在因克尔曼巡逻营，当时在赫尔曼德受到攻击最多的英国营地。我们着地之后，皇家盎格鲁人团的准尉告诉我，他相信NATO距离在阿富汗的灾难永远都只有一天时间。
That observation is as true today as it was then. Last Friday’s attack could have been a disaster for Nato, Instead it was a wake-up call.
他的看法至今仍然成立。上周五的袭击对NATO不是起床哨，而是一场灾难。

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链接
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ ... place-on-earth.html作者：Sean Rayment，军事记者

It was often said of Camp Bastion that the only correct decision that Britain ever made during its torrid history in Afghanistan was to build the base in the middle of nowhere, with isolation as its primary strength.
关于堡垒营最流行的段子：英国在阿富汗的火烧屁股史中做出的唯一正确决定就是在不毛之地中央修了这么个茕茕孑立的基地当老巢。
Anyone approaching from any direction should be easily spotted, tracked, identified - and, if they pose a threat, destroyed. That was the theory.
任何人从任何方向靠近都会被轻易发现、跟踪、确认，以及消灭--如果他们想挑事。理论上是这样。
But the events of last Friday, when a force of Taliban gunmen managed to move up to and breach the Bastion’s security at around 10.15pm (local time), supposedly without being seen or heard, have sent a shock wave through Nato’s high command.
但上周五晚10点15分（当地时间）一票塔利班兰博组织了一次突破堡垒守卫的行动，而且貌似没被人发现。NATO高层隐然觉得有PIAPIA声。
Initial reports state that the Taliban had been monitoring the eastern side of Camp Bastion for at least two weeks and had been posing as farmers working in a nearby maize plantation.
初步报告表明，塔利班已在堡垒营东侧踩点至少2周，而且化妆成了在附近的苞谷地干活的农民。
The attack only ever had one aim. It was a suicide mission designed to demonstrate that the Taliban can attack any Nato installation, no matter how secure.
袭击只有一个目标。此次自杀式行动就是为了表明塔利班能够袭击任何NATO设施，管他怎么防卫。
A five-foot-high hole has reportedly been found in the outer fence which sits adjacent to the main runway. It is believed to have been caused by a suicide bomber detonating an explosive vest. One the fence had been breached, around 19 insurgents, many also wearing suicide vests, streamed forward firing rocket propelled grenades and mortars. Two US Marines were killed in the ensuing battle and five aircraft, including US Marine Corps Harrier jump jets and helicopters, were destroyed. A fuel storage tank and a helicopter maintenance tent were also hit and caught fire.
据报紧邻主跑道的外层围栏上发现了一个5英尺高的洞。据信这是一名穿着炸弹马甲的自杀式袭击者造成的。护栏一开，19人---可能也有炸弹马甲---用RPG和迫击炮一路碾压。接下来的战斗中2名美陆战队员阵亡，5架飞机被毁，包括USMC的垂直起降飞机和直升机。一辆油罐车和一个直升机维修站也被击中起火。
Camp Bastion became operational in April 2006, when the British Army moved into the Helmand badlands on a mission to bring security, assist local construction projects and help the Afghan government extend the rule of law.
堡垒营在2006年4月投入使用，那时英军前往赫尔曼德荒地执行安保任务，帮助当地工程建设，协助阿富汗政府扩大控制区。
In the intervening years, the base has grown in size, to cover around 20 square miles and now includes Bastion 1 and Bastion 2, Camp Leatherneck, home to thousands of US Marines and Camp Shorabak, the main Afghan National Army base in the province.
基地面积在数年中扩大至20平方英里，包括堡垒1区、堡垒2区，驻守数千USMC的陆战营，以及阿富汗陆军在本省的主基地绍拉巴克营。
In 2006, Bastion’s runway consisted of a 100-yard dirt strip, designed to handle three aircraft movements a week. Today it is one of the busiest UK-operated airports and currently handles 600 aircraft a day (18,000 a month), more traffic than Luton, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Leeds-Bradford or Coventry airports.
2006年，堡垒营只有100码宽的简易跑道，每周能承接三次飞行任务。今天它已经是英国治下最繁忙的空港之一，每天600假飞机起降（月达18,000），比卢顿、爱丁堡、伯明翰、利兹-布拉德福德或考文垂的空港都要拥挤。
As the years passed the Bastion, unimpeded by the distant possibility of a Taliban attack, grew in size to the garrison it is today. The camp boasts its own bottling plant capable of producing 15,000 gallons of drinking water a day. It has a field hospital, equipped with two portable x-ray machines, an operating theatre, radiographic equipment, CAT scanner and an intensive care unit capable of treating up to 20 seriously ill patients.
数年来都处在塔利班攻击范围以外的堡垒营，发展成了今日的要塞。堡垒营每日可生产15,000加仑饮用水的设备让它引以为荣。它还拥有野战医院，其中配备两台便携X光机，一个手术室，放射科设备，造影扫描仪以及可治疗20名重伤员的监护室。
Soldiers routinely jog round the perimeter or work out in one of the many gyms. They can relax in air-conditioned comfort in one of the Naafi bars and can Skype family and friends through the camps various internet sites.
士兵们在其中一个体育馆周边晃荡。他们可以在有空调的英军小卖部里放松，还能通过营里的网吧跟家人聊QQ。
Camp Bastion’s sheer size is breathtaking and its bright runway lights can be seen illuminating the inky black Helmand sky for many miles away.
堡垒营陡峭的轮廓如此壮观，赫尔曼德漆黑的夜空下能在数英里外看到跑道上的亮光。
I have visited Camp Bastion on more than a dozen occasions and have watched the base morph from a small tented village into the international, technologically-sophisticated town it is today. Despite being in the centre of the most dangerous province in Afghanistan, I always felt completely safe, certainly from Taliban attack, and honestly believed there was more chance of being run over by a military vehicle than being killed by insurgents.
我曾十多次前往堡垒营，目睹了它从一个只有几只帐篷的村庄发展成今天的国际化高科技城镇。尽管处于阿富汗最危险的省份中心，我却感到彻底的远离塔利班的安全，而且真心相信被入侵者干掉的几率还不如被车撞死的大。
In fact the only person that I have known ever to have been injured on the base was a fellow journalist who slipped into an irrigation ditch one dark evening while attempting to walk to the canteen without the aid of a torch.
实际上，在基地我见到唯一受伤的人是一名随军记者，因为黑夜里没带火炬，他在去小卖部的途中滑到了灌溉渠里。
My faith was based not on blissful ignorance but on Camp Bastion’s impressive security. The entire location is ringed by multiple 30ft high steel fences topped by triple concertina barbed wire, with an inner 30ft high blast wall which encompasses most of the inner camp.
我的信心建立在堡垒营令人印象深刻的安保上而不是盲目乐观。整个地区被30英尺高的顶头带刺的铁丝网围起来，里面有30英尺高的防爆墙围绕着内营的大部分。
Ground sensors, infrared and thermal imaging cameras, motion detectors and a specially designed radar can supposedly detect human or aircraft movements from 20 miles away.
Watch towers equipped with search lights and manned by heavily armed soldiers are sited every hundred yards or so along the perimeter, which is also patrolled by a specially trained force equipped with guard dogs.
地面感应器，红外热成像仪，运动检测器，以及可以在20英里外发现人员和飞行物的特制雷达。每隔一百码或差不多距离就有一个的瞭望塔，备有探照灯并驻守着重装士兵。此外还有配备警犬的特训部队巡逻。
Collectively this dazzling array of surveillance equipment is known as ISTAR – Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance. In terms of security it should have been fool proof.
这一组炫目的监视设备统称为ISTAR--情报，监视，目标识别与侦查。就安保而言，它应当是没有问题的。
In fact, Bastion’s supposedly unimpeachable security is said to be one of the reason’s why Prince Harry was allowed to serve in Afghanistan but never in Iraq, where virtually every British base, including the main Garrison at Basra airport, was subject to almost incessant rocket attack.
实际上，哈里王子被准许在阿富汗服役而不是伊拉克就是因为堡垒营被认为是万无一失的。在伊拉克，包括位于巴士拉机场的主营，英军基地实际上都是不间断的火箭袭击的目标。
So, given the security, watchtowers, motion sensors and thermal imagery, how did the Taliban manage to pull their most audacious publicity raid to date.
这样，考虑到这些卫兵，瞭望塔，运动传感器和热成像仪，塔利班怎么会把他们最大胆的公开袭击提上日程的呢？
One theory being considered is that the Taliban commander who masterminded the operation was acting on inside information and was given the precise location of a blind spot in the base’s security.
一种说法是指挥此次行动的塔利班首领有内线情报，并得到了基地守卫盲点的精确位置。
As well as the thousands of troops who live and work on the base, Bastion day-to-day running is supported by “locally employed contractors” known as LECs. Some may have worked on the base for several years and could have easily passed details of the base’s security on to the Taliban. It is also quite possible that a member of the Afghan National Army or the Police might have passed on information identifying potentially-vulnerable points within the camp’s perimeter.
除了工作生活在基地的数千士兵，堡垒营的日程运转是由被称作“临时工”的当地合同工维持的。其中一些已在基地工作了几年时间，有可能把基地守卫的细节传达给塔利班。阿富汗军队和警察也很有可能把确认营地潜在弱点的信息传递出去。
Once the point of attack had been located, the Taliban, according to the Afghan National Directorate of Security, monitored all the movements with the base for at least two weeks before launching the attack.
照阿富汗国家安全部门的说法，确认了袭击点的位置之后，塔利班在行动之前监视基地的运作至少两周。
The Taliban have demonstrated on countless occasions that they can breach supposedly high levels of security. In 2011, the Taliban dugs tunnels into Kandahar Prison in an audacious plan which allowed over 470 insurgents to escape. They have attacked key and supposedly secure areas in Kabul and assassinated political leaders, generals and police chiefs, whose personal security should have been high.
塔利班已经无数次证明他们能够突破本以为是高级别的防守。2011年，塔利班在一次大胆的劫狱计划中挖通了坎大哈的监狱，使得470名暴徒逃脱。他们袭击喀布尔的关键地区，暗杀政治人士，军官和警长，而这些人的本应受到高级别保护。
The worry for those responsible for Camp Bastion’s security is what will the Taliban do next. If the insurgents can breach security, could they get close enough to the airfield to shoot down a transport plane loaded with troops? Despite the Taliban death toll, the Bastion attack will be regarded as a success and like the IRA, another insurgent group adept at exploiting security lapses, the Taliban only repeat successes, never failures.
堡垒营安全负责人现在担心的是塔利班下一步会做什么。如果乱党能够突破防线，他们会不会离机场近到足以打下装满士兵的运输机呢？不考虑自己的伤亡，塔利班会把此次袭击当做一次胜利。像爱尔兰共和军-----另一伙善于利用防卫漏洞的乱贼-----一样，塔利班只会去重复成功的行动。
In 2007, I flew out of Camp Bastion in a Chinook helicopter, laden with so many troops it was standing room only. We landed in a cloud of dust in Patrol Base Inkerrman, then the most attacked British camp in Helmand. After we touched down the Regimental Sergeant Major of the Royal Anglians, told me that he believed that Nato was always “one day away” from disaster in Afghanistan.
2007年，我乘支奴干飞离堡垒营，挤满士兵的空间里勉强能落脚。沙尘滚滚中，我们降落在因克尔曼巡逻营，当时在赫尔曼德受到攻击最多的英国营地。我们着地之后，皇家盎格鲁人团的准尉告诉我，他相信NATO距离在阿富汗的灾难永远都只有一天时间。
That observation is as true today as it was then. Last Friday’s attack could have been a disaster for Nato, Instead it was a wake-up call.
他的看法至今仍然成立。上周五的袭击对NATO不是起床哨，而是一场灾难。

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