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On August 9, 2018 a fighter jet dropped a bomb on this street in Dahyan, Yemen.
2018年8月9日，一架战斗机在也门达海安的这条街上投下了一枚炸弹。
It exploded here, near a busy marketplace.
炸弹就在这里爆炸了，而爆炸点旁边就是一个繁忙的市场。
Killing 40 children on a school bus.
一辆校车上的40名儿童遇难。
The plane was from a coalition led by Saudi Arabia.
这架战斗机属于沙特阿拉伯领导的一个联盟。
They have conducted thousands of airstrikes in Yemen since 2015 - many aimed at civilian targets.
自2015年以来，他们已经在也门开展了数千次空袭，其中许多次针对的都是平民。
This is the bomb.
这就是他们投下的那颗炸弹。
And this photo, reportedly taken after the attack,
据报道，这张照片是在袭击发生后拍摄的，
shows that the serial number - 94271 - corresponds to a 500-pound laser-guided bomb built by the Lockheed Martin corporation.
照片上的序列号94271和洛克希德·马丁公司制造的一枚500磅重的激光制导炸弹的序列号一致。
It was made in the United States.
所以，这枚炸弹是美国制造的。
In fact, most of Saudi Arabia's weapons are.
事实上，沙特阿拉伯的大部分武器都是美国制造的。
The US is the biggest arms dealer in the world - and Saudi Arabia is its number one customer.
美国是世界上最大的军火商，沙特则是美国的头号客户。
For nearly 75 years, the two countries have been strategic allies — trying to keep the Middle East stable for their own benefit.
近75年来，两国一直是战略盟友关系——为了各自的利益努力保持中东地区的稳定。
But today, the Middle East has fallen apart.
只是，今天的中东已经分崩离析了。
And Saudi Arabia has been using US weapons to make it worse.
沙特阿拉伯还一直拿着美国制造的武器给这个地方添乱。
So why does the US sell Saudi Arabia so many weapons… and will it ever stop?
那么问题来了，美国为什么要向沙特出售这么多武器……会有结束的那一天吗?
It all started with oil.
一切都因石油而起。
In 1938, a lot of it was discovered in the new country of Saudi Arabia.
1938年，沙特这个新独立的国家发现了大量的石油。
For here are more proved and readily accessible reserves than in all of North and South America together.
“因为这里的探明储量和可开采储量比整个北美和南美加起来还要多。”
In 1945, US President Franklin Roosevelt made a deal with the Saudi King AbdulAziz al-Saud:
1945年，美国总统富兰克林·罗斯福与沙特国王阿卜杜勒·阿齐兹·沙特达成了一项协议：
The Saudis would provide the US with a safe, reliable source of oil
沙特为美国提供安全可靠的石油来源，
and in exchange, the US would support and protect the Saudis.
条件是美国要支持、保护沙特。
This was at a time when the US was making other alliances in the Middle East.
当时，美国和中东的其他国家也在结盟。
Oil, however. Together with its strategic location, it has made this area important in world affairs.
却是石油。加上它的战略位置，石油赋予了这一地区在世界事务中的举足轻重的地位。”
But at first, US arms sales to their allies in the Middle East were limited.
只是，一开始，美国销售给中东盟友的武器还很有限。
The US hoped fewer weapons would mean less conflict and therefore a steady supply of oil.
因为美国指望着更少的武器意味着更少的冲突以及更稳定的石油供应。
But that didn't last for long.
然而，这一情形并没有持续多久。
War broke out between Israel and these Arab States in 1967.
1967年，以色列和这些阿拉伯国家之间爆发了战争。
This put the US in an awkward situation - it had allies on both sides.
美国陷入了一场尴尬的境地——因为双方都有它的盟友。
The US ultimately decided to sell fighter jets to Israel to give them an advantage over the Arab states.
美国最终决定出售战斗机给以色列，让他们能够在阿拉伯国家面前占上风。
But war broke out again six years later.
然而，六年后，战争再次爆发。
This time, the US sent thousands of tons of arms to Israel .
这一次，美国给以色列送去了数千吨武器。
This outraged the Arab allies, including Saudi Arabia.
这下，阿拉伯的盟友们，包括沙特，怒了。
So they struck back.
于是，他们对美国发起了反击。
The oil producing countries of the Arab world decided to use their oil as a political weapon.
“阿拉伯世界的石油生产国决定把石油当作他们的政治武器。”
These Arab states cut-off oil supplies to the US to protest their support of Israel.
这些阿拉伯国家切断了对美国的石油供应，以抗议美国对以色列的支持。
And it caused a crisis.
一场危机由此爆发。
The price of oil nearly quadrupled in the US.
美国境内的石油价格几乎翻了两番。
The cut-off ended several months later when the US brokered a peace deal between Israel and Egypt.
几个月后，在美国的斡旋下，以色列和埃及达成了一项和平协议，供应中断的局面才又告一段落。
But to help rebuild its relationship with its Arab allies, the US decided to sell them weapons.
然而，为了和阿拉伯盟友重修旧好，美国决定也向他们出售武器。
And the Saudis were particularly eager to buy.
其中，购买意愿最强的又数沙特。
By the 1970s, oil profits had made Saudi Arabia's monarchy extraordinarily rich -
到20世纪70年代，石油的利润已经让沙特这一君主制国家变得异乎寻常的富有了——
and they could afford to buy a range of advanced weapons.
他们也有能力购买一系列先进武器了。
Between 1970 and '76, US sales to Saudi Arabia skyrocketed.
1970年至1976年间，美国对沙特的武器销售直线上升。
In the meantime, just across the Gulf, Iran had emerged as another extremely strategic ally to the US.
与此同时，海湾对岸的伊朗也已经成了美国的另一个极为重要的战略盟友。
Like Saudi Arabia, it was a large, oil-rich country.
和沙特一样，伊朗也是一个石油大国。
But more importantly, it shared this long border with the Soviet Union - America's primary enemy during the Cold War.
但更重要的是，它与美国在冷战期间的主要敌人苏联共有这条长长的边境线。
So, President Nixon said the US would “sell Iran virtually any conventional weapons it wanted.”
所以，尼克松总统表示，美国将“向伊朗出售任何它想要的常规武器”。
Together, Saudi Arabia and Iran became America's Twin Pillars in the Middle East.
这样一来，沙特和伊朗就成为美国在中东势均力敌的两大支柱。
For the US, selling them guns, bombs, planes, and tanks
对美国来说，向两个国家出售枪支、炸弹、飞机和坦克
was a way to prevent the Soviets from entering the Middle East, and protect the oil supply.
是阻止苏联进入中东，保护美国的石油供应的一种方式。
And having these countries rely on American weapons gave the US important leverage to dictate how and when they were used.
同时，让这些国家依赖自己制造的武器还能在决定他们如何使用以及何时使用那些武器的问题上赋予美国重要的话语权。
It was also an important sign of trust and support between allies.
对他们出售武器还彰显了两国作为盟友的信任和支持。
US arms came with years of training and maintenance,
美国的武器都是经过了多年训练和维护的，
so each weapons deal with Saudi Arabia, for example, was a long-term commitment to work together.
因此，与沙特的每一项武器协议都是双方长期合作的承诺。
This would prove to be important because Saudi Arabia and the US would soon have to rely even more on each other…
后来的事实证明，这点是非常重要的，因为沙特和美国很快就不得不更加依赖彼此了……
In 1979, the Islamic revolution overthrew the pro-US Shah of Iran who was replaced by a religious leader; Ayatollah Khomeini.
1979年，伊斯兰革命推翻了亲美的伊朗国王，取而代之的是一位宗教领袖阿亚图拉·霍梅尼。
Suddenly, one of the America's twin pillars turned on it.
美国的两大支柱在一夜之间和美国反目成仇。
The new Iran was ambitious and extremely anti-American while armed with $9B worth of American-made weapons.
有着美国制造的价值90亿美元的武器傍身，新伊朗不仅野心勃勃，还极端反美。
And it was also the enemy of Saudi Arabia.
它也是沙特的敌人。
Each saw itself as the leader of the muslim world;
两个国家都觉得自己才是穆斯林世界的领袖；
and started competing for influence in the Middle East.
争夺在中东的影响力的竞争由此开始。
So Saudi Arabia continued to want more weapons and the US continued to sell them.
所以，沙特想继续购买更多的武器，美国也就继续向他们出售这些武器。
