The Anti-War Quote Book, ed. Eric Groves Sr.
Today marks the five-year anniversary of the U.S. invasion in Iraq, though it feels more like a hundred years. This widely criticized war has left our country (and pretty much every other one in the world) with a whole lot of questions and concerns and very few answers (at least not honest ones, anyway) from the people who put us there in the first place.
If you’re one of the many who feel disheartened, particularly on a day like today, it may be in your best interest to pick up Quirk Books’ The Anti-War Quote Book, edited by Eric Groves Sr. Quote books are a tricky business: While many truly inspire uplift, or even outrage, others feel like a compilation of high school yearbook entries. This book falls in the former category.
Groves, who writes a devastating introduction about the harrowing effects of war today and years past, found the best of the best from those who not only spoke of peace, but lived it. The words of Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. seem as relevant today as they ever were. My only gripe is the glaring omission of one of peace’s greatest supporters, the still-influential John Lennon. "All we are saying is give peace a chance" is a plea you’ll hear at protests across the country today. Hell, it could have been the title of the book.
You’ll still be surprised at how many quotes from "lesser-known" figures truly stick out. Perhaps the timeliest of the lot, the quote by American writer Arthur Hoppe is insightful: "Old men declare wars because they have failed to solve complex political and economic problems. They send young men to go fight them. Of course, the old men have to make up patriotic and emotional rationales to justify their stupidity." It’s passages like these that make this a book you’ll read over and over, aloud to yourself, over the phone to friends, family or anyone else within earshot. From topics of propaganda and violence to brotherhood and love, they’re all bound to stir emotions and, hopefully, conversation.
As I read this book on the eve of this troubling anniversary, I couldn’t help but feel sadness with my hopefulness. Here, in bold text, are the words of great men and women spanning centuries, all expressing that war brings horror and that peace is the only way out of it. But it’s on the last page, with Ralph Waldo Emerson’s "It is never too late to do right," that makes you realize all these words mean so very much.
March 22nd, 2008 at 11:28 am
In selecting your Presidential candidate, please reflect on the dire consequences of a docile retreat before a relatively small band of Islamic extremists; and, attempt to formulate your own opinion as to the most prudent course of action in the defense of our Nation. It might assist to consider the following scenario: the infiltration of a group of terrorists similar to the Atta cabal with a quantity of weaponized anthrax procured from a rogue state; the acquisition of a single crop-duster aircraft fitted with a dry-agent disseminator; and, the dispersal of that dangerous toxin over an American population center. The loss of American life would be catastrophic. -Or-, is it preferable to pre-empt such fanatics by destroying them on their home turf, such as Afghanistan and Iraq, BEFORE they secure the capacity to threaten our homeland? The latter is in fact a key element in current American strategy. Is it advisable to support any candidate who would reverse course and sacrifice the impressive gains against Islamofacists that young Americans have shed their precious blood to achieve? The fact that we have not experienced another 9/11 is not a by-chance occurrence. Further, it’s critical to appreciate the pivotal role that our own border security plays in our “war against terrorism”, keeping in mind that “Amnesty” is anathema to border security. A Nation without enforceable borders will not long survive as a Nation. The policies espoused by both Clinton and Obama would grievously damage our Nation’s National Security Interests; and, intensify America’s vulnerabilities to terrorist activities. As history has repeatedly taught with grim consequences, PEACE is won only THRU STRENGTH; and, NOT THRU the nebulous psychosis of HOPE. Greg Neubeck
March 22nd, 2008 at 7:27 pm
I appreciate your banter Greg, but that’s all it is. I’ve read other material you’ve posted, elsewhere, and frankly, it’s all the same. This mentality of peace won through strength is destroying our reputation abroad, and is not the path Americans should be following. I think that The war in Iraq will go down in history as a terrible mistake. We didn’t catch the person responsible for 9-11, we invaded a country with no plan, and thousands of people on both sides of the board have died. For what? To prove America is strong. We aren’t as strong as you think, and we are losing strength at an alarming rate. Our economy is collapsing, urban crime is high, and we are losing a war. This tough guy attitude toward foreign policy is what shed the blood of the young Americans you speak of. Now the war can only end in a Pyrrhic victory at best. At worst, the world could decide that they have had enough of us. We blew it when it counted, and the blood of every person who died in Iraq is on the hands of everyone who caused this war, Clinton included!! This war is unjust, and it needs to end. Ignorance is destroying America, and shedding innocent blood. Here are two facts. There has never been any proof of a connection between Iraq and 9-11, and over 4000 people have died through “strength,” not through the nebulous psychosis of hope.