You have to watch Generation Kill.

On some level we are a little familiar with the lexicon that ‘war is insanity’ but it’s very rare that a book or film actually explains why this is the case. Why it’s not some other way. Generation Kill, written by Evan Wright of Rolling Stone is one of those books. Said book was adapted into a HBO miniseries starring Alexander Skarsgard. Mr. Wright’s entire assignment in Iraq is absurd and progressively gets more absurd. Even before the gunshots, the first recon group he is ensconced with harbour absurd notions on why they are even in Iraq in the first place. One soldier is convinced one of the major catalysts for the war is child pornography. He goes on:

“NAMBLA’s infiltrated First Recon,’ Person continues after bringing the vehicle to a stop. ‘There’s a guy in Third Platoon, hes going to be collecting photographs of all the children and sending them back to NAMBLA HQ. Back at Pendleton he volunteers at the daycare center. He goes around collecting all the turds from the five-year-olds and puts them into Copenhagen tins. Out there everyone thinks he’s dipping, but it’s not tobacco. It’s dookie from five-year-olds.”

Wright was riding in a Humvee placed directly at the proverbial ‘tip of the spear’ for the initial invasion which hinged on the tactics of ‘shock and awe’. An overwhelming display of firepower combined with fast paced, tactical movements from the…