There was underlying "people are the real victims of wars". They cover it as well during some dialogue where someone is recounting how cavalier the government and military had been with human lives. How easy it was for them to throw away lives in their quest for power. I found that it made a universal political and ethical statement without ever picking a side.
EDIT: I watched it in Japanese with subtitles. There have been complaints that the english dub version has a lot of changes that switch the meaning of a scene.