Finished with the War - A Soldier's Declaration"I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority, because I believe the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it.
"I am a soldier, convinced that I am writing on behalf of soldiers. I believe that this war, upon which I entered as a war of defence and liberation, has now become a war of aggression and conquest. I believe that the purposes for which I and my fellow soldiers entered upon this war should have been so clearly stated as to have made it impossible to change them, and that, had this been done, the objects which actuated us would now be attainable by negotiation.
"I have seen and endured the suffering of the troops, and I can no longer be a party to prolong these sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust.
"I am not protesting against the conduct of the war, but against the political errors and insincereities for which the fighting men are being sacrificed.
"On behalf of those who are suffering now I make this protest against the deception which is being practised on them; also I believe that I may help to destroy the callous complacence with which the majority of those at home regard the continuance of agonies which they do not share, and which they have not sufficient imagination to realize."
-- S. Sassoon
July 1917
(Regeneration, Pat Barker, 1993)
I bought this novel years ago on the recommendation of someone on an online book review message board. I finally picked it up this week and started to read. The soldier's declaration is the first page, and I was struck as I read, by the appropriateness of this World War I protest to our current war.
A few pages later, his psychiatrist asks Sasson, "Would you describe yourself as a pacifist?" Sasson replies, "I don't think so. I can't possibly say 'No war is ever justified', because I haven't thought about it enough. Perhaps some wars are. Perhaps this one was when it started. I just don't think our war aims--whatever they may be--and we don't know--justify this level of slaughter."
Well said. I can't add anything to improve on this.
Credit: Pat Barker, Regeneration, 1993. Regeneration is a fictionalized portrayal of real life poet Siegfried Sasson and historical events of World War I.