“We shall never end war by blaming it on ministers and generals or war-mongering imperialists…It’s the rest of us who build statues to those generals or name boulevards after those ministers…the rest of us who make heroes of our dead and shrines of our battlefields…” (Paddy Chayefsky, The Americanization of Emily)
Yes, some wars are necessary. Vietnam was not; neither is Iraq. But even a necessary war should be entered into as a last resort; it should be waged with the understanding that war itself is a failure of reason; and it should be concluded - even in victory - as a solemn occasion.
Forget the honors. Forget the glory.
A soldier’s medals are merely seeds for the next conflict.
War is never an answer
I haven't read a more eloquently written argument against war,