It was an extraordinary event—a truce created by soldiers and opposed by generals – and so hostilities soon resumed. By the end of World War, there were over 16 million deaths and 20 million wounded; military and civilian casualties totaled over 37 million.
The Great War, the war to end wars, turned out to be only the first world war, ushering in a century of new wars, hot and cold, local and global, colonial and imperial, conducted with the latest and most profitable machinery of death. We in Veterans For Peace demand government leaders stop this madness of war! We call out to our sisters and brothers in uniform: stand down! drop your weapons; stop the killing in Ukraine, on the West Bank, in Gaza, Israel, Sudan, Haiti and worldwide.
We call upon all governments and civil society groups to support and welcome war resisters who refuse to kill; for governments to grant refugee status and humanitarian entry to them; and for civil society networks to offer them sanctuary and support.
Honor Veterans by creating peace: Stop the wars! Ceasefire now!
Mike Ferner was a hospital corpsman during the Vietnam War and has travelled to Iraq and Afghanistan. He is a past president and current executive director of Veterans For Peace.
Susan Schnall is president of the Veterans For Peace national board and president of New York City Veterans For Peace. She served as a nurse in the Navy during the Vietnam War and was court-martialed for her antiwar activities. She is the co-coordinator of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign and an assistant professor at New York University.