Canada’s military
加拿大军事
Hockey sticks and helicopters
冰球棒和直升机
Jul 24th 2008 | OTTAWA （渥太华）
From The Economist print edition
How a general made Canada more comfortable with fighting wars
一个将军是如何让加拿大对打仗更为适应的
Coming to a battlefield near you
来到附近的战场
“WE ARE not the public service of Canada,” General Rick Hillier once told journalists. “We are the Canadian Forces and our job is to be able to kill people.” Such a robust view of military power was unusual when General Hillier was appointed chief of the defence staff. In the three years he spent in the post before stepping down earlier this month, he almost succeeded in making it mainstream.
“我们不是加拿大的公共服务部门，”里克•希利尔将军曾告诉记者说。”我们是加拿大的军队，我们的工作是要能够杀死人。”在任命为国防总参谋长时，对军事实力表现出如此强硬看法的行为是不同寻常的。任职3年于本月初下台的希利尔将军几乎成功地令他的看法成为主流观点。
Canadians have often seemed more comfortable with an army that puts up tents and dishes out aid than with one that actually shoots people. The reasons for this are partly historical: the Liberal Party, which ruled Canada for most of the second half of the 20th century, drew much of its support from Quebec, where a dislike of military adventures dates back to the days of the British empire. Defence spending was frozen in the 1970s and 1980s, and then cut back in the 1990s.
加拿大人似乎经常对搭建帐篷和发放援助物资而非杀人的军队更为适应。出现这种情况的部分原因要归结于历史：在加拿大20世纪下半世纪统治大部分时期的自由党从魁北克获得很多支持，但早在大英帝国统治的时日，魁北克就对军事冒险行动颇不喜欢。此外，在70~80年代国防开支固定不变。在90年代国防开支曾被削减。
Bucking this history, Canada announced in 2005 that it would assume NATO responsibility for providing security in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province and sent 2,000 soldiers to do the job. The task of selling the deployment of these troops fell to the plain-speaking general. The Taliban and Osama bin Laden were, he explained, “detestable murderers and scumbags” who should be hunted down.
同此段历史相背，加拿大在2005年宣布，作为北约成员，将承担保障阿富汗坎大哈省安全的责任，并派遣2000名士兵参与此项工作。而直言不讳的希利尔将军将军则负责兜售部署军队理念的任务。他解释说：塔利班和本拉登是”可恨的杀人犯和卑鄙的家伙”，理应拘捕。
To keep public opinion on his side, General Hillier made regular appearances on television accompanied by Afghan veterans, bringing him a level of fame previously unknown for an army officer in Canada. He took ice-hockey players to visit the troops and installed an all-Canadian doughnut shop on the army’s base in Kandahar. The election of the Conservatives in January 2006 made the task easier, providing strong political support for the intervention in Afghanistan. Even with the number of casualties rising (the 88th Canadian soldier was killed there on July 18th), Parliament has approved a two-year extension to the mission until 2011.
为保持长期获得公众舆论的支持，在阿富汗老兵的陪同下，希利尔将军经常在电视上露面，最终使一位军官由以前的不为人知到今天的小有名气。希利尔将军还带领冰球球员参观部队，以及设立在坎大哈军事基地的一家加拿大油炸圈饼店。在2006年1月，保守派在选举中的胜利令工作更为顺利，因为他们对涉入阿富汗提供了强有力的政治支持。尽管伤亡人数在上升（到7月18日,已有88名加拿大士兵死亡），议会对一项延期两年直到2011年结束的任务还是给予了批准。
Money has followed. The government has acquired over 100 second-hand Leopard 2 tanks, four Boeing C-17 heavy transport aircraft, 17 Hercules planes and made a commitment to buy 16 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters. The navy has not been left out, with a C$1.1 billion ($1.1 billion) refit for a dozen frigates and a C$2.9 billion contract for three ships to support army operations. There is even a plan for a naval port in Nanisivik, in the territory of Nunavut, and up to eight Arctic patrol vessels to fly the flag in the increasingly ice-free far north. In May Stephen Harper, the prime minister, unveiled a new defence strategy called Canada First, with a pledge to increase the annual budget for the military by two-thirds over 20 years.
资金随后而来。政府已购买超过100辆二手豹2型坦克，4架波音C-17重型运输机，17架”大力神”飞机和承诺购买16架”支努干”重型运输直升机。海军也未受冷落。政府提供11亿加元（11亿美元）用于改装10来艘护卫舰和签署一项价值高达29亿加元的合同，用于购买3艘舰船来支持军队开展行动。除此以外，政府甚至还有要在努纳维特地区的南尼斯维克港(Nanisivik)建立军港的一项计划，以及动用多达8艘北极巡逻船在远北地区的日渐不冻区宣示主权。在5月，总理斯蒂芬•哈珀（Stephen Harper）发起一项”加拿大优先”的新型国防战略，承诺在20年后为军队提供的年度财政预算要增加2/3。
General Hillier’s successor, Walter Natynczyk, has so far shown a less sure touch. When visiting troops in Kandahar recently he first played down the violence in the region and then conceded that things were in fact getting worse. He also has some unfamiliar problems to deal with. Soldiers are worn out after repeated tours and the army is having trouble retaining them and recruiting suitable replacements. So much so that they have begun to look for recruits in unlikely places. A Canadian Forces recruiting booth at Toronto’s gay pride festival was a surprising first.
希利尔将军的继任者纳堤茨克将军(Walter Natynczyk)截至目前立场还不够坚定。在最近访问坎大哈的部队时，纳堤茨克将军首次减低该地区暴力事件的严重性，随后并承认情况实际上正在恶化。但他还有一些不熟悉的问题需要处理。经过多次遣派，士兵已是疲惫不堪。军队对安抚士兵和招募适合的替换兵员也存有困难。出现如此严重的问题以致他们已开始在不可思议的地方寻找新兵。一个加拿大部队的征兵摊位就设立在多伦多同性恋自豪节（gay pride festival）上，这倒是令人吃惊的第一次。
译者：captain21 http://www.ecocn.org/forum/viewthread.php?tid=12951&extra=page%3D1