War

Christians have killed each other, quite persuaded
That all the apostles would have done as they did.
Byron, Don Juan

Wonderful lines - Byron was not a great poet until Beppo and Don Juan, where he approaches, at a fair distance, the greatness of his idol, Pope.

“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”

Voltaire

"I will never oppose the Vietnam War. Americans were right to do it. I think they fought it in the wrong way. I don't think it's a war like fighting Hitler, but I think it was a right war, a correct war." Military historian Sir John Kegan, quoted in his obituary in the New York Times. I agree -it was legally and morally justified, but he was wrong to take the same line and never change his mind about the invasion of Iraq which was neither

"War does not determine who is right - only who is left." Bertrand Russell