So begins the new Pax Americana: the liberation of Iraq.

The entertainment value alone is enormous. Such spectacle: earnest young men and women in high tech gear, traveling thousands of miles, through sandstorm and media storm, to save the oppressed people of a distant land. What could be nobler? More photogenic, more evocative of patriotic rhetoric and flags and eagles and bravery and sacrifice?

Each generation apparently gets to have its war, its particular myth of apocalyptic conflict. Such is also the stuff of much of great literature, from the Bible to Lord of the Rings to Star Wars. It is rousing, blood pumping stuff: the horror and glory of battle, of dying for a purpose. It is so very seductive.

And so very deceptive.

America is not only the greatest military power in human history, but also the greatest exporter of entertainment. We are the dreamers, but also the mythmakers. From Madison Avenue to Hollywood, we have perfected the technology of illusion. We can make prehistoric creatures come alive, portray long dead heroes and extraterrestrial beings with a stunning realism. As we sell products and political candidates, we also sell the desirability of war.

War is like a surge of adrenaline to a people: the body politic is jolted, ready for extreme situations, brain and muscle pumped up and dedicated to swift and powerful action. It also means redlining the metabolism and the emotions and it cannot be sustained without damage to the organism. Yet, if this is the only way the creature can survive, it can be called upon.

The Iraq war, a pre-emptive attack without provocation, is artificial, like a methamphetamine.

If the American people become addicted to this jolt, to the high of bellicose patriotism, to shooting up on the drama of war, where will it lead?

The morning after is inevitable; the crash will come. There will be an awakening, terrible and real, to the waste and devastation that cannot be undone. America the Beautiful will become America the Terrible. What is worse, is one shot will lead to another. And another. And another.

We will--or have--become a nation of war junkies.

--Richard Garrard