一代梟雄本·拉登的閱讀書單

Among the books, periodicals and letters found in Osama bin Laden’s hide-out in Pakistan was a copy of the former C.I.A. officer Michael Scheuer’s 2004 book, “Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror,” which describes the founder of Al Qaeda as “the most respected, loved, romantic, charismatic and perhaps able figure in the last 150 years of Islamic history.”

奧薩馬·本·拉登(Osama bin Laden)在巴基斯坦藏匿期間的書籍、期刊和信件中，有一本前中情局官員邁克爾·朔伊爾(Michael Scheuer)2004年的著作《帝國的傲慢：西方爲何在反恐戰爭中失敗》(Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror)，書中把這位基地組織(Al Qaeda)的創始人描述爲“近150年來的伊斯蘭曆史上最受尊敬與熱愛，最浪漫，最有人格魅力，或許也是最有能力的人物”。

Also in his library was a copy of Michel Chossudovsky’s conspiracy-minded book “America’s ‘War on Terrorism,’ ” which argued that the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were simply a pretext for American incursions into the Middle East, and that Bin Laden was nothing but a boogeyman created by the United States.

他的藏書中還有一本米歇爾·科塞多夫斯基(Michel Chossudovsky)的《美國的“反恐戰爭”》(America’s ‘War on Terrorism)。這本書持陰謀論觀點，認爲2001年9月11日的恐怖襲擊只是美國入侵中東的藉口，本·拉登只是被美國憑空創造出來的惡魔。

These books and others, along with dozens of journal articles and magazine clippings, were found when a Navy SEAL team raided Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2011. Declassified on Wednesday, they highlight the Qaeda leader’s fascination with the West. They also illustrate the efforts he made to understand America (the better to fight it) and his need to confirm his own beliefs about its rapacity and corruption (perhaps to justify his terrorist attacks).

2011年，海豹突擊隊襲擊了本·拉登在巴基斯坦阿伯塔巴德藏匿的院落，除了這兩本書，他們還發現了其他書籍以及數十份期刊文章和雜誌剪貼。上週三，這些資料得到解密，它們表明了本·拉登對西方世界的興趣，也證明他試圖理解美國（並且更好地與之戰鬥），並且需要藉着美國的腐敗與貪婪來確認自身的信仰（或許也需要它們來將自己的恐怖主義襲擊正當化）。

It should not come as a surprise that the terrorist leader was concerned with his legacy and world image — after all, he was famously recorded watching video of himself on television. Holed up in Abbottabad for perhaps as long as five years without an Internet connection, Bin Laden had plenty of time to read about himself, Al Qaeda and his enemy, the United States.

這位恐怖主義的領袖關心自己的思想遺產和在世界上的形象，這顯然並不出人意料，畢竟，他喜歡看電視上自己的錄像，這是出了名的。本·拉登在阿伯塔巴德隱居了差不多有五年，不能上互聯網，所以有充分的時間閱讀關於自己、基地組織和美國敵人的書籍。

Bin Laden learned English at an elite Western-style high school in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, where he was by most accounts a serious student, and his library suggests that he spent his last years in hiding as a student again — but a student of terrorism, fixated on American imperialism.

本·拉登早年在沙特阿拉伯吉達市的一所西方式精英中學學習英語，大多數人回憶當年的他是個嚴肅認真的學生。這份書單表明，在人生最後幾年裏，藏匿中的本·拉登又重新成了一個學生——不過學的是專門針對美帝國主義的恐怖主義。

The declassified list released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence includes art books (“Arabic Calligraphy Workshop”) and health books (“Grappler’s Guide to Sports Nutrition”) described as “documents probably used by other compound residents.” Bin Laden’s books, however, appear pretty much work-related — little or no recreational reading, it seems, for the Qaeda leader.

這份解密資料由國家情報總監辦公室公佈，書單內還包括《阿拉伯語書法研究》(Arabic Calligraphy Workshop)等藝術書籍和《摔跤運動員營養指南》(Grappler’s Guide to Sports Nutrition)等健康書籍，官員們說，“這些東西可能是院落裏其他居住者們使用的”。不過本·拉登自己讀的書顯然都是和工作相關的，幾乎沒有什麼消遣性的閱讀材料。

Some of the books are mainstream history or journalism: “Obama’s Wars” by Bob Woodward, “The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers” by Paul Kennedy, “The United States and Vietnam 1787-1941” by Robert Hopkins Miller. Others are conspiracy-mongering tomes like “Bloodlines of the Illuminati” by Fritz Springmeier, “The Taking of America, 1-2-3” by Richard Sprague, and “Secrets of the Federal Reserve” by Eustace Mullins, a Holocaust denier.

有些書是主流歷史或新聞著作，如鮑勃·奧德伍德(Bob Woodward)的《奧巴馬的戰爭》(Obama’s Wars)、保羅·肯尼迪(Paul Kennedy)的《大國的興衰》(The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers)，以及羅伯特·霍普金斯·米勒(Robert Hopkins Miller)的《美國與越南，1787-1941》(The United States and Vietnam 1787-1941)。還有一些兜售陰謀論的鉅著，比如菲里茲·斯普林梅爾(Fritz Springmeier)的《光明會的血統》(Bloodlines of the Illuminati)、《統治美國，1-2-3》(The Taking of America, 1-2-3)，以及否認猶太大屠殺的尤斯塔斯·馬林斯(Eustace Mullins)所著的《美聯署的祕密》(Secrets of the Federal Reserve)。

There are two works by Bin Laden’s early mentor, Abdullah Azzam (“The Defense of Muslim Lands” and “Join the Caravan”), about jihad.

有兩本書來自本·拉登早期的導師阿卜杜拉·阿扎姆(Abdullah Azzam)：《保衛穆斯林王國》(The Defense of Muslim Lands)和《加入隊伍》(Join the Caravan)，都是關於伊斯蘭聖戰的。

There is also a sizable cache of documents relating to France, such as “Wage Inequality in France” and “France on Radioactive Waste Management, 2008.” And there are books by the left-wing writers Greg Palast (“The Best Democracy Money Can Buy”) and Noam Chomsky (“Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance”) that Bin Laden probably thought ratified some of his own views about American imperial ambitions and corporate corruption.

此外還有大量關於法國的資料，諸如《法國的薪資不平等》(Wage Inequality in France)和《法國的放射性廢料管理，2008》(France on Radioactive Waste Management, 2008)。還有些左翼作家的書籍，如格雷格·帕拉斯特(Greg Palast)的《金錢能買到的最好的民主》(The Best Democracy Money Can Buy)和諾姆·喬姆斯基(Noam Chomsky)的《霸權還是生存：美國對全球統治的追求》(Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance)，本·拉登或許覺得它們能夠印證他對美帝國主義野心與大公司腐敗的一些看法。

While stuck in Abbottabad, Bin Laden seems to have been studying publicly available United States government documents and articles and radical publications. He also read Foreign Policy magazine articles and RAND Corporation studies on counterinsurgency, trying to keep a handle on the war on terrorism he had set off.

被困在阿伯塔巴德期間，本·拉登似乎仍在研究任何可以到手的美國政府公開的文件、文章與基本出版物。他還讀《對外政策》(Foreign Policy)雜誌上的文章，以及蘭德公司(RAND Corporation)對鎮壓叛亂的研究，努力跟上由他肇始的恐怖主義戰爭的形勢。

His bookshelf is a weird hodgepodge. It’s hard to know how complete a list it is, and whether he requested certain books from aides, or if aides sent him works they thought he might like or that might influence his thinking.

他的書架堪稱古怪的大雜燴。公佈出來的書單有多完整，目前不得而知；人們也無從知道這些書是他特意要求助手去買的，又或者是助手爲他挑選了這些書；更無法知道這些書他是否喜歡，抑或對他產生了多少影響。

The declassified letters and correspondence reflect Bin Laden’s managerial concerns — Al Qaeda had become a kind of giant corporation. His self-prescribed syllabus included works on global issues, like climate change, and ran a spectrum from historical works to crackpot conspiracy tracts.

解密的筆記與通信反映出本·拉登在管理方面的憂慮——基地組織已經成爲某種巨大的公司組織。本·拉登親自爲他們制定的課程包括對氣候變化等全球問題的研究，從歷史研究到離奇的陰謀論文件無所不有。

The eclectic nature of the list speaks to both Bin Laden’s reach as Al Qaeda’s leader and his limitations as an international fugitive; his ambitions to think globally and his naïve susceptibility to theorists who talk conspiracy to explain the perfidies of the West; his fascination with America; and his determination to find new ways to attack it by trying to understand the dynamics of its political and economic systems.

這份書單的折中主義本質反映出本·拉登作爲基地組織領袖的關注範圍，以及他作爲國際逃亡者的侷限性；他有着以全球化視野看待問題的野心，然而對那些以陰謀論來解釋西方背信棄義的理論家們又有着天真的輕信；他迷戀美國；同時又努力去了解它政治與經濟系統的運行，以圖尋找新的方式去攻擊它。

As Steve Coll wrote in his compelling biography of the Bin Laden family, “The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century”: “Osama was not a stranger to the West,” having grown up in one of Saudi Arabia’s wealthiest families and traveled abroad, “but by age 15, he had already erected a wall against their allures. He felt implicated by the West, and by its presence in his own family, and yet, as he would demonstrate in the years ahead, he lacked a sophisticated or subtle understanding of Western society and history. He used his passport, but he never really left home.”

史蒂夫·科爾(Steve Coll)的《本·拉登：美國世紀中的阿拉伯家族》(The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century)是他爲本·拉登家族撰寫的一部引人入勝的傳記，書中寫道：“奧薩馬對西方世界並不陌生”，他成長在沙特阿拉伯最富裕的家庭之一，曾經周遊世界，“但是到了15歲那年，他已在心底築起高牆，把西方世界的誘惑拒之門外。他覺得自己與西方世界，乃至它對自己家族的影響密切相關，但在未來的歲月裏，他的行爲證明他對西方社會和歷史的理解並不成熟深入。他使用護照到處旅行，但他其實從未真正離開家鄉。”