Events afterward [Bay of Tonkin, Vietnam] showed that we’d been attacked that day was wrong. It didn’t happen ... We was wrong. ibid.
We saw Vietnam as an element of the Cold War. Not what they saw it as – a civil war. ibid.
Lesson #8: Be prepared to re-examine your reasoning. ibid.
I do not believe we should ever apply that economic, political, military power unilaterally. ibid.
None of our allies supported us. ibid.
If we can’t persuade nations of comparable values of the merit of our cause we’d better re-examine our reasoning. ibid.
What is morally appropriate in a war-time environment? ibid.
Agent Orange – were they committing a crime against humanity? ibid.
Lesson#9: In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil. ibid.
The Pentagon is a very very difficult building to defend. ibid.
Lesson #10: Never say never. ibid.
Never answer the question that is asked of you; answer the question you wish had been asked of you. ibid.
I’m very proud of my accomplishments. ibid.
Lesson #11: You can’t change human nature. ibid.
We all make mistakes. We know we make mistakes. ibid.
There’s a wonderful phrase: the fog of war ... our judgement, our understanding, are not adequate, and we kill people unnecessarily. ibid.
When hostilities commenced in Europe in 1939 it was realised that the American people had no intention of entering the war. But they believed that this country could be enticed into the war in very much the same way that it was enticed into the last one. They planned first, to plan the United States for foreign war under the guise of American defense. Second, to involve us in the war, step by step, without our realisation. Third, to create a series of incidents which would force us into the actual conflict. These plans were of course to be covered and assisted by the full power of their propaganda. Our theaters soon became filled with plays portraying the glory of war. Newsreels lost all semblance of objectivity. And they have used the war to justify the restriction of congressional powers, and the assumption of dictatorial procedures on the part of the President and his appointees. A fear campaign was inaugurated. We cannot allow the natural prejudices and passions of other peoples to lead our country to destruction. Charles Lindbergh, 11th September 1941
Whither depart the souls of the brave that die in the battle,
Die in the lost, lost fight for the cause that perishes with them? Arthur Hugh Clough, 1819-61, Amours de Voyage, 1858
There is no avoiding war. It can only be postponed to the advantage of your enemy. Niccolo Machiavelli
I think it is well also for the man in the street to realise that there is no power on earth than can protect him from being bombed. Whatever people may tell him, the bomber will always get through. The only defence is in offence, which means that you have to kill more women and children more quickly than the enemy if you want to save yourselves. Stanley Baldwin, address House of Commons 10th November 1932
There never has been a way yet which, if the facts had been put calmly before the ordinary folk, could not have been prevented ... The common man is I think the great protection against war. Ernest Bevan, House of Commons 25th November 1945
I am willing to accept that there might be rare circumstances where applications of force might be effective. Howard Zinn
I suggest that if you know history, then you might not be so easily fooled by the government when it tells you you must go to war for this or that reason – that history is a protective armor against being misled. Howard Zinn
War itself is the enemy of the human race. Howard Zinn
There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people. Howard Zinn
Every generation needs to have taken part in a war once. Adolf Hitler
One must cut off one’s own lines of retreat; then one fights more easily and with greater determination. Adolf Hitler
The aim for which we were fighting the war was the loftiest, the most overpowering, that man can conceive. It was the freedom and independence of our nation. Adolf Hitler
The final aim of politics is war. Adolf Hitler
The origins of psychological warfare were in Nazi Germany, and in the Nazi ideology they had something that was called Weltanschauungskrieg, which means World View Warfare. The idea for them was imposing the Nazi world view on the countries they had occupied. The Americans picked up this idea, created an American version of it, and called that Psychological Warfare. PSTV.tv. Mind Sciences
In 1946 President Truman approved Project Paperclip, bringing Hitler’s top scientists into the United States. ibid.
One of the most important roles of the news media is to make sure the American public never sees the effects of war. Robert Jensen
One of the major characteristics of the process of militarising an entire society is going to be the glorification of war and of weapons. Professor Robert Jensen
War is nothing but a continuation of politics with the admixture of other means. Carl von Clausewitz
Is there any place that is free from evil? It is too simple to say that only the Nazis wanted war ... Even good men thought that their private honour would be satisfied by war. They could assert their manhood by killing and being killed. They would accept hardship in recompense for having been selfish and lazy. Danger justified privilege. Evelyn Waugh, Unconditional Surrender
War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men. Georges Clemenceau, 1841-1929
It is easier to make war than to make peace. Georges Clemenceau
What do you expect when I’m between two men of whom one [Lloyd George] thinks he is Napoleon and the other [Woodrow Wilson] thinks he is Jesus Christ. Georges Clemenceau
The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone,
In the ranks of death you’ll find him;
His father’s sword he has girded on,
And his wild harp slung behind him. Thomas Moore, Irish Melodies, 1807
Cowards in scarlet pass for men of war. George Granville, The She Gallants, 1696
War puts the stamp of nobility on those who have the courage to meet it. Benito Mussolini
I’d like to talk a little bit about the War in the Persian Gulf. Big doings in the Persian Gulf. You know my favourite part of that war? It’s the first war we ever had that was on every channel plus cable. And the war got good ratings too, didn’t it? Got good ratings. Well, we like war. We like war. We are a warlike people. We like war because we’re good at it. And d’ya know why we’re good at it? ’Cause we get a lot of practice. This country is only 200 years old and already we’ve had ten major wars. We average a major war every twenty years in this country. So we’re good at it. And it’s a good thing we are, we’re not very good at anything else any more. Hah? We can’t build a decent car. We can’t build a decent TV set or a VCR worth a fuck, got no steel industry left, can’t educate our young people, can’t get healthcare for the old people, but we can bomb the shit out of your country, all right ... Especially if your country is full of brown people. Oh we like that, don’t we? That’s our hobby. That’s our new job in the world – bombing brown people! Iraq, Panama, Granada, Libya, you got some brown people in your country, tell em to watch the fuck out! Or we’re goddamn bomb them! ... Now yotold, the way we were supposed to feel about that war, the way u probably noticed I don’t feel about that war the way we were we were ordered and instructed by the United States government to feel about that war – you see, I tell ya, my mind doesn’t work that way – I got this real moron thing I do – it’s called thinking. And I’m not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions! I don’t just roll over when I’m told to. Sad to say most Americans just roll over on command – not me. I have certain rules I live by. My first rule – I don’t believe anything the government tells me. Nothing! Zero! Nope! And I don’t take very seriously the media or the press in this country, who in the case of the Persian War were nothing more than unpaid employees of the Department of Defense, and who most of the time, most of the time, functioned as a kind of... unofficial public relations agency for the United States government. So I don’t listen to them. I don’t really believe in my country ...