離開
進入《中英對照讀新聞》Pentagon ’wasted $28m’ on Afghan camouflaged uniforms 五角大廈「浪費2800萬美元」在阿富汗迷彩軍服上
（法新社資料照）
◎魏國金
US taxpayers unnecessarily spent $28m on uniforms for the Afghan National Army, according to the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. In a scathing report, John Sopko said that officials bought "forest" pattern uniforms, despite the country’s landscape being only 2.1% wooded. The decision was "not based on an evaluation of its appropriateness for the Afghan environment", he wrote. A former Afghan defence minister chose the pattern in 2007, he says.
美國納稅人不必要地耗費2800萬美元（約8.54億台幣）在阿富汗國民軍的制服上，阿富汗重建特別監察小組監察長指出。在一份措辭嚴厲的報告中，索普科說，官員採購「森林」圖樣的制服，儘管該國地景僅2.1％為植被所覆蓋。這項決定「不是根據阿富汗環境相稱性的評估。」他寫道。前阿富汗國防部長2007年選擇該圖樣，他說。
In the 17-page report, Sopko writes that Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak chose the privately owned pattern over a cheaper pattern that the US military already owned. US officials, who had been searching for patterns online with Wardak, authorised the purchase because he "liked what he saw".
在這份17頁的報告中，索普科寫道，部長瓦達克選擇所有權私人所屬的款式，而非美軍已有的較廉價款式。與瓦達克一同在網路上搜尋軍服款式的美國官員，因他「中意他所看到的」而批准這項採購案。
"My concern is what if the minister of defence liked purple, or liked pink?" Sopko told USA Today in an interview. "Are we going to buy pink uniforms for soldiers and not ask questions? That’s insane. We wasted $28 million of taxpayers’ money in the name of fashion, because the defence minister thought that that pattern was pretty."
「我關切的是，要是國防部長喜歡紫色或粉紅色，又會怎樣呢？」索普科在「今日美國報」的訪問中說。「我們會問都不問地就為軍人採購粉紅色軍服嗎？那是愚蠢至極。我們以時尚的名義，浪費2800萬美元納稅人的錢，只是因為這位國防部長認為那種款式漂亮。」
新聞辭典
scathing：嚴厲的。例如，a scathing condemnation（嚴厲譴責）
what if：如果....會怎樣？例句：What if it’s true.（如果這是真的會怎樣？）
insane：瘋狂的、極蠢的、荒唐的。例句：He was overwhelmed by his girlfriend’s insane actions.（他女友的瘋狂行為讓他筋疲力竭。）
