Another big hug

　　另類熱情擁抱(陳繼龍 編譯)

　　May 18th 2006 | CAIRO

　　From The Economist print edition

　　“THE United States is a damned country that deserves only to be cursed. It declares its own occupation of our lands legitimate, but brands our resistance as terrorists.” This was not the Libyan leader, Muammar Qaddafi, speaking 20 years ago, when his country was a pariah[1] and he was the butt[2] of international scorn. The words were spoken only last month, by the Libyan parliament's deputy speaker, Ahmed Ibrahim, at a g________① in Tripoli, Libya's capital, to commemorate its bombing by American aircraft in 1986.

　　“美國是一個可惡的國家，理所當然應該受到詛咒。它口口聲聲說占領我們的國土是合法的，卻誣蔑我們的抵抗力量是恐怖分子。”這不是利比亞領導人穆阿邁爾 卡扎菲20前說的，那個時候利比亞是一個世所不容的國家，卡扎菲也被國際間當作嘲弄的對象。這話出自利比亞國會發言人艾哈邁德 易布拉希姆之口，他上個月剛剛在利比亞首都的黎波里舉行的一次集會上說了這番話。此次集會旨在紀念1986年美國飛機轟炸利比亞事件。

　　Mr Ibrahim's stridency[3] was, perhaps, inspired by America's decision, in March, to keep Libya on its official list of state sponsors of terrorism, a dubious distinction it has held since 1979. All the more striking, then, that the American administration should have decided, this week, to restore full diplomatic relations.

　　易布拉希姆的話之所以如此不中聽，可能是因為今年3月美國決定繼續將利比亞列入官方的“支持恐怖主義國家”名單——從1979年起，利比亞就開始享有此項有爭議的“殊榮”。可接下來讓人錯愕不已的是，本周美國政府竟然決定全面恢復同利比亞的外交關系。