From James in England
Hey Folks -
I sent my English friend James the link to the "Yellow Ribbon" song (posted here a few days back - see: http://music.download.com/theswingstatesroadshow/3600-8976_32-100835228.html?tag=MDL_listing_song_artist ), and he wrote back with something he believed related to the question of "supporting the troops."
I'm sharing it with you:
Tom,
I was listening to a radio programme on Siegfried Sassoon and the said
programme is usually accompanied by an email to subscribers including
bits that they couldn't get in the show for that particular subject of the day etc etc. In said email it reported what he wrote for the Times Newspaper about World War I in 1917 (ninety years ago).
"I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military
authority, because I believe that the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it.
I am a soldier, convinced that I am acting 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 sufferings 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 insincerities 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 practiced 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.”
James
- Uke Man
I sent my English friend James the link to the "Yellow Ribbon" song (posted here a few days back - see: http://music.download.com/theswingstatesroadshow/3600-8976_32-100835228.html?tag=MDL_listing_song_artist ), and he wrote back with something he believed related to the question of "supporting the troops."
I'm sharing it with you:
Tom,
I was listening to a radio programme on Siegfried Sassoon and the said
programme is usually accompanied by an email to subscribers including
bits that they couldn't get in the show for that particular subject of the day etc etc. In said email it reported what he wrote for the Times Newspaper about World War I in 1917 (ninety years ago).
"I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military
authority, because I believe that the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it.
I am a soldier, convinced that I am acting 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 sufferings 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 insincerities 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 practiced 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.”
James
- Uke Man
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