The Christmas Truce by Laurence M. Vance

Laurence M. Vance writes:

"The Christmas of 1914 was the first Christmas of the 'war to end all wars.' The war would drag on through three more...

"Brief and localized pre-holiday truces were springing up, usually initiated by the Germans...

"No one knows for certain where and how the truce officially began. What is known is that men from both sides up and down the front agreed on informal truces for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day...

"Where they couldn’t talk the language they were making themselves understood by signs, and everyone seemed to be getting on nicely. Here we were laughing and chatting to men whom only a few hours before we were trying to kill!

"That last sentence alone shows the utter folly of war. It also shows that left to themselves, men would not naturally engage in such a senseless war like World War I. It takes the state to get men to hate and kill other men that have never aggressed against them and that they don’t even know.

"After a silent night and a day, the war continued – the commanders saw to it...

"The situation described by Lew Rockwell just after Christmas two years ago has not changed: 'The US remains the only government in human history to have dropped nuclear weapons on people, it has far more weapons than anyone else, and remains the only country that reserves to itself the right of first strike.'

"Instead of invading the world, the United States should declare a truce with the world. No more threats. No more bombs. No more troops or bases on foreign soil. No more spies. No more trade sanctions. No more embargoes. No more foreign aid bribes. No more foreign entanglements. No more simultaneously playing the world’s bully and policeman. In a word: non-interventionism; that is, the principles of our Founding Fathers. What is wrong with 'peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations'? What is wrong with avoiding 'entangling alliances'? What is wrong with 'having as little political connection as possible' with foreign nations? What is wrong with not going abroad 'seeking monsters to destroy'? Can anyone honestly say that Bush’s principles are better than Jefferson’s principles?

"Over 1,300 U.S. soldiers won’t be celebrating Christmas this year – or any year. They died in vain for an unconstitutional, immoral, senseless war while in the service of a reckless, imperial presidency. They will forever have a silent night."

The Christmas Truce by Laurence M. Vance