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15 Famous Quotes About War

Sun, 2007-11-11 19:34 - Kerry

Homework

http://encarta.msn.com

War evokes such conflicting emotions--horror, glory, shame, pride, and sorrow--that it is often difficult to express them in words. Here is what some have said about war.

William Tecumseh Sherman

1. There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but boys, it is all hell. You can bear this warning voice to generations yet to come. I look upon war with horror.
--William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891), U.S. general. From a speech, Columbus, Ohio, August 11, 1880.

Mao Zedong

2. All counter-revolutionary wars are unjust, all revolutionary wars are just.
--Mao Zedong (1893-1976), Chinese statesman. From On Protracted War (1938).

3. All wars are popular for the first thirty days.
--Attributed to Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. (1917- ), U.S. historian.

William Shakespeare

4. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother.
--William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright and poet. From Henry V (1598?).

5. War is nothing but a continuation of politics with the admixture of other means.
--Karl Marie von Clausewitz (1780-1831), Prussian general. Often misquoted as "War is nothing but a continuation of politics by other means."
From On War (1833).

6. It has long been noted that some conquerors prefer enemies as fierce as tigers and brave as eagles, for only then can they savor the true joy of victory.
--Lu Xun (1881-1936), Chinese writer. From "The True Story of Ah Q" (1918).

Robert E. Lee

7. It is well that war is so terrible; else we would grow too fond of it.
--Robert E. Lee (1807-1870), U.S. general. Said to another general during the battle of Fredericksburg (1862).

8. Nothing is ever done in this world until men are prepared to kill each other if it is not done.
--George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Irish playwright. From Major Barbara (1905).

Marshall McLuhan (Image credit: Archive Photos/Bernard Gotfyd)

9. Television brought the brutality of war into the comfort of the living room. Vietnam was lost in the living rooms of America—not on the battlefields of Vietnam.
--Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980), Canadian sociologist. In the Montreal Gazette, 1975.

10. The guerrilla fights the war of the flea, and his military enemy suffers the dog's disadvantages: too much to defend; too small, ubiquitous, and agile an enemy to come to grips with.
--Robert Taber (1928- ), U.S. writer. From War of the Flea (1965).

11. A war regarded as inevitable or even probable, and therefore much prepared for, has a very good chance of being fought.
--George F. Kennan (1904- ), U.S. diplomat and scholar. From The Cloud of Danger (1977).

Tom Stoppard (Image credit: THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE/UPI)

12. War is capitalism with the gloves off.
--Tom Stoppard (1937- ), British playwright and screenwriter. From Travesties (1974).

Jeannette Rankin (Image Credit: Culver Pictures)

13. You no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.
--Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973), U.S. legislator.

Sir Winston Churchill

14. Do not let us speak of darker days; let us rather speak of sterner days. These are not dark days: these are great days--the greatest days our country has ever lived.
--Winston Churchill (1874-1965), British prime minister and writer. From a speech, October 29, 1941.

Benito Mussolini

15. Blood alone moves the wheels of history.
--Attributed to Benito Mussolini (1883-1945), Italian dictator.

Comments

Sun, 2007-11-11 19:43 — Kerry

Historically speaking...

There has always been "a sound reason" for placing boys and men in the front-lines for blood-shed, in terms of protecting "The Motherland".  And yet, by doing so, mothers and children have been left behind to fend for themselves.

How in the world does this make sense?

Historically speaking, how do lunatics justify the cost of war to those who truly pay for it with their lives?

Sun, 2007-11-11 22:03 — Niels

gain vs loss

I wish I were the historian who could just write down the various justifications given for the many wars mankind has fared. This being far to difficult to just Google for, I'd have to console to my personal observations.

First off, there hardly is any justification to start a war. In all fairness, I can't think of any war started for just reasons. In the end it is always about manipulating a population into war they don't want. Bottomline: no-one wants to send their boys and nowadays girls too, to a war zone.

I could go into the manipulations behind the war in Iraq, the wars in Korea and Vietnam, the selling of both world wars, but there are plenty dedicated website on the internet, that delve deeper than I could in just a comment. I could sum up the profiteering from wars, but we already have a thread dedicated to that (Who's profiting from the Iraq war?). So let's contrast them. Who are the people paying the cost and who are the people who profit.

Certainly those who die and their family pay the price and so do all those soldiers and their families who have to live with the psychological damage done. The public at large has to pay too, in cash. War money is money down the drain. Wars tend to shift focus away from local issues. So education and social services get much less attention than they deserve. That's why everyone loses with war, except: some industrials and some politicians, people who would have made loads of money anyway.

Mon, 2007-11-12 11:55 — Kerry

"I Want You... Badly"

A complete guide to Uncle Sam's recruiting incentives.

By Phillip Carter and Brad Flora
Posted Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2007, at 7:24 AM ET

http://www.slate.com/id/2177426?GT1=10636

U.S. Soldiers. Click image to expand.

Last month, Pentagon officials proudly trumpeted their recruiting and retention results, announcing they had met or exceeded the past year's goals for every branch of the service except the Army and Air National Guard. According to Undersecretary of Defense David Chu, the results show the continuing viability of the "all-volunteer" military, even as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars grind on. Top Pentagon officials say these numbers also refute arguments that Iraq is breaking the force, or that we need a return to the draft. However, critics charge that the huge and varied incentives being offered to recruits show the desperation of the all-volunteer force and its inability to cope with the sustained demands of the Iraq war. Others point out that these recruitment programs focus too much on quantity, rather than quality, leading to a lower-caliber military.

Slate's comprehensive list of Army recruiting and retention programs illustrates how the service is stretching to make manpower ends meet.

 

Inducement

 Target Description
  Quick-ship bonuses Recruits who ship out within 30 days To push new troops out to the field faster, the Army started offering $20,000 bonuses this summer to new soldiers who would ship out for basic training within 30 days. In some cases, this resulted in troops transitioning from their living rooms to the battlefield in less than four months. Of the 4,149 recruits who signed contracts between July 25 and Aug. 13, 92 percent took the bonus. The program was revamped Sept. 30 to provide recruits with bonuses of $6,000, $15,000, or $20,000 depending on their chosen operational specialty.
  Enlistment bonuses All recruits In 2006, the Pentagon spent more than $1 billion on enlistment bonuses. In November 1999, new recruits could enlist and receive up to $20,000 for joining. Today, they can join for a total signing bonus of up to $40,000 for a four-year hitch. Recruits with certain skills, such as fluency in Arabic, can earn an additional $5,000 for joining the Army. Those holding bachelor's degrees can get $8,000 for signing a two-year enlistment contract. Recruits opting for the Army Reserve can also earn large bonuses—up to $20,000 for a six-year enlistment plus at least two years in the inactive reserves.
  Deferred-enlistment bonus High-school seniors who enlist Aimed at snagging high-school seniors early, encouraging them to finish school and then head on to boot camp, this new program pays $1,000 to students for each month they spend in the Army's Future Soldier Training Program. High-schoolers receive an additional $1,000 when they graduate. This bonus can be combined with other enlistment bonuses. So, if a senior enlists for a specialty with a $20,000 bonus, spends seven months in the Future Soldier Training Program, and graduates, his total bonus would be $28,000.
  Fifteen month + training enlistment bonus Recruits who answer the Army's "National Call to Service" In response to market demand from young people for shorter tours of duty, the Army began offering two-year enlistments that allow a recruit to sign up, deploy to Iraq, and get out of the service. This means recruits go to boot camp, then individual training, then to their units for 15 months. New soldiers taking this path are eligible for the GI Bill and can choose between a $5,000 cash payment or up to $18,000 in student-loan repayment, but are not eligible for the other signing bonuses.
  Money for college All recruits All service members can sign up for the active-duty Montgomery GI Bill program, which pays up to $38,700 for college or vocational training, usually after the soldier, sailor, airman, or Marine gets discharged.
  Inducement Target Description
  Student-loan repayment College grads who enlist for at least three years or go to officer training Recruits who join with existing student loans can earn up to $65,000 in loan repayment in exchange for three years of service. Soldiers who join the Army for six years in certain specialties can earn $72,900 in combined educational benefits from the GI Bill and Army College Fund.
  401(k) matching funds/"Thrift Savings Plan" Five-year recruits in critical specialties Like many employers, the federal government offers a retirement savings account, called the "Thrift Savings Plan," which employees can contribute tax-free earnings and sometimes have them matched by the government. The Army offers an enlistment option that allows recruits who sign up for five years or more to contribute up to $15,000 a year, with the Army matching up to 5 percent of the funds contributed.
  Less-stringent education standards Recruits without a high-school diploma or equivalent Relying on decades of social science research showing that smarter soldiers do better in combat, the Pentagon long insisted that 90 percent of its new recruits enter with a high-school diploma, and that they score well on the military's aptitude tests. Since 2004, the Army has waived these rules for an increasing number of recruits. Among 2004 recruits, 92.5 percent had a high-school diploma, while the same could be said for 87 percent in 2005, 81.2 percent in 2006, and 79.1 percent in 2007.
  Moral waivers Recruits with previous drug or criminal convictions According to a January 2007 Army briefing, two-thirds of young men and women are ineligible to enlist because of medical problems, poor education, past drug use, or criminal convictions. (To read this briefing in PowerPoint format, click here.) To make ends meet, the Pentagon has raised the number of "moral waivers" the services can grant for new recruits with past convictions or drug use. In 2003, the Army handed out 4,644 waivers for past criminal convictions and 1,028 exemptions for drug and alcohol offenses. By 2007 those same numbers jumped to 12,057 and 1,492. In the case of Army Pvt. Steven Green, this policy went disastrously wrong. Green entered the Army as a high-school dropout with a GED, as well as with past convictions for alcohol and drug-related crimes. He now stands accused of a grisly rape and murder near Mahmudiyah, Iraq.
  Less-stringent age standards Recruits aged 35-42 To enlarge the pool of eligible recruits, the Army raised the maximum age for enlistment from 35 to 40 in January 2006, and then from 40 to 42 in June 2006, both times with Congress' explicit authorization.
  Retention bonuses

Special ops. officers and enlisted
Army captains who sign on for three more years

 With private security contractors ready to pay $200,000 a year for top-quality special operations troops, the Pentagon has had to pay top dollar to keep highly skilled officers and enlisted personnel in a number of fields. The Army is offering retention bonuses of up to $150,000 to its most skilled special forces troops. Army captains signing up for another three years can get $20,000 to $35,000, a free ticket to graduate school, military schooling (Ranger School or language training), a branch or functional area transfer, or "post of choice," depending on their specialty. Since the program was rolled out Sept. 13, more than 7,500 active-duty captains have signed on.
  Stop-loss Selected active and reserve personnel scheduled to be discharged "Stop-loss" and "stop-move" are programs the Army uses to freeze certain personnel in their current assignments, or prevent them from being discharged. These programs are frequently employed to maintain the strength and cohesion of a unit preparing to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan. Senior Army leaders say approximately 9,000 soldiers are being kept in the service beyond the end of their enlistment contract under stop-loss, and an unknown number have been frozen in their current assignments under stop-move. Members of Congress have expressed concern that these policies contradict the spirit of the all-volunteer force, but Defense Secretary Robert Gates and others indicate they will likely continue.
  Inducement Target Description

 

Hmm... you think if maybe the U.S. government worked just a little closer with the Adoption Industry, and they worked-out a plan that promised a new baby to each family left behind, free of charge,  maybe more couples would be willing to sacrifice their sons and daughters to the armed services?

Tue, 2007-11-13 00:16 — neophyte

Liars for a "good cause"?

I always felt really sorry for soldiers.  It must be horrible to have to leave home and fight an enemy that looks much like your own kind.  There's an article about the heros of war, and how "you show me a brave man in war, I'll show you a liar". 

"What makes a war hero? Study asked vets" delves into the makings of heroic-behavior. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21725468/)

I respect people who tell the truth.

The truth is, just like adoptees, soliders have to adapt to new surroundings, and hope not all hands are going to be used for combat.  Truth is, not all adoptees and soldiers get to go back home, where they belong.  Truth is, the government is to blame for the placement of both victims of circumstances.

God forbid any of us speak-up and say the truth.