巴格达——在耗费23年多时间和1.7万亿美元后，美国正在结束批评者所称的伊拉克“永恒战争”，并于周三关闭了最后一个主要美军基地。
BAGHDAD—After spending more than 23 years and $1.7 trillion, America is winding down what critics have called its forever war in Iraq, closing the last major U.S. military base on Wednesday.
“我们认为不再需要在那里驻军，”特朗普总统在7月伊拉克总理阿里·扎伊迪访问白宫期间表示。“我们有一位出色的冠军，一位新的冠军，”总统说道。“他很年轻，而且很英俊。”41岁的商人扎伊迪在访问期间坐在特朗普身旁，并宣布了一个同样定在周三的截止日期，要求伊朗支持的民兵交出武器。他说：“9月30日之后，他们存在的理由就不复存在了。”
“We don’t think we need the military there anymore,” President Trump said during a White House visit by Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi in July. “We have a fantastic champion, a new champion,” the president said. “He’s young, and he’s handsome.”Zaidi, a 41-year-old businessman, sat beside Trump during the visit and announced a deadline, also set for Wednesday, for Iranian-backed militias to hand over their weapons. “There is no justification for their existence after the 30th of September,” he said.
相反，美国与伊朗之间无休止的战争正将伊拉克推向更深的冲突，而美国的撤离留下的是一个武装民兵势力日益收紧控制的国家。据《华尔街日报》报道，在战争开始后的头两个月里，武装分子和伊朗部队对伊拉克的美国外交和军事设施发动了600多次袭击。
Instead, America’s open-ended war with Iran is pushing Iraq deeper into conflict, with the U.S. exit leaving behind a country where well-armed militias are only tightening their grip. Militants and Iranian forces launched more than 600 attacks on U.S. diplomatic and military facilities in Iraq in the first two months of the war, The Wall Street Journal reported.