George W. Bush, July 4, 2007: “Victory in this struggle will require more patience, more courage, and more sacrifice. And we’ve lost some good men and women in this fight. And so on this 4th of July, we pause to remember the fallen — and the grieving families they have left behind. We hold them in our hearts, we lift them up in our prayers, and we pledge to honor their memory by finishing the work for which they have given their life.”

Hermann Goering (Adolf Hitler’s second-in-command): “Why, of course, the people don’t want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out if it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don’t want war. . . . But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a Parliament, or a Communist dictatorship.”

George W. Bush, July 4, 2007: “[Y]our service is needed. We need for people to volunteer to defend America. Because in this war, we face dangerous enemies who have attacked us here at home. Oh, I know the passage of time has convinced some — maybe convinced some that danger doesn’t exist. But that’s not how I see it.”

Hermann Goering: “Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.”

George W. Bush, July 4, 2007: “Perhaps one way to differentiate between our thoughts is just think about religion. In the great country of the United States, we believe that you should be able to worship any way you see fit; that you’re equally American, regardless of your religious beliefs. They believe that if you don’t worship the way they see it, then they’re going to bring you harm.

“We believe in an Almighty, we believe in the freedom for people to worship that Almighty. They don’t. They don’t believe you should worship the way you choose. They believe the only way you should worship is the way they choose. And, therefore — and, therefore, they will do anything they can to spread that ideology. And it’s our charge, it’s our calling to keep the pressure on these people, to defend America and to spread an ideology of hope and an ideology of peace.”

Adolf Hitler: “[T]oday I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.

“My feeling as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded only by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God’s truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was his fight against the Jewish poison.”

George W. Bush: “Since the attacks of September the 11th, 2001, every operational unit of the West Virginia National Guard has been deployed — and some are on their second and third deployments.

“One member of the 167th Airlift Wing, Master Sergeant Richard Howland, has deployed seven times since the 9/11 attacks — and this good man just volunteered to go to Baghdad for an eighth deployment in September. Our fellow citizens should listen to what Richard has said, what this volunteer has said. He said: “It is my patriotic duty to do whatever I can do to help.” It feels “good that I’m keeping a lot of people safe.” We’re an incredible nation that has produced men like Richard Howland and you, who in the face of danger wear the uniform of the United States of America and step forward in freedom’s defense. And I thank you for that.

“Since September the 11th, members of the West Virginia Air National Guard have earned seven Bronze stars and four Purple Hearts. Two of those Purple Hearts were awarded to Staff Sergeants Brad Runkles and Derek Brown.

“[T]hey were driving together in the lead gun truck of a convoy in Iraq when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. Brad and Derek made it out, but they suffered burns on their hands and faces. They recovered from their wounds — and in May of last year, they both re-enlisted.”

William Tecumseh Sherman (Union General, Civil War): “I confess, without shame, I am sick and tired of fighting—its glory is all moonshine; even success the most brilliant is over dead and mangled bodies, with the anguish and lamentations of distant families, appealing to me for sons, husbands and fathers. . . . It is only those who have never heard a shot, never heard the shriek and groans of the wounded and lacerated (friend or foe), that cry aloud for more blood, more vengeance, more desolation. . . .”

W.T. Sherman: “There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower (Commander of the Allied Forces, World War II): “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.”