Tonight we saw Michael Clayton, an excellent but mildly predictable drama with great performances by George Clooney and Tom Wilkinson. Check it out before it leaves your local cineplex.

Prior to the movie we got to watch the lovely little piece of propaganda below:

Created as a promotional piece for the National Guard (note the logo in the lower right), this slick, big-budget music video with Hollywood production values is currently playing at movie theaters everywhere, and is obviously targeting those who spend the most time at the movies… teenage males. The piece reeked of MTV and video games, and not in a good way. The video frequently cuts back and forth between natural disasters, the Revolutionary War, and what appears to be Iraq, and throws in a 9/11 reference for good measure. What a surprise that was. Well, not really. I expected to see it 15 seconds in.

For the record I support the troops. I will always support the troops that serve honorably here and abroad. And in part this little diddy pays tribute to those who have served, or at least I think so. But I certainly question the timing, the method of execution and the intentions behind it. War is a dirty business. Not some video game. Not an episode of American Idol. And this war in Irag is made even dirtier by those who were hell bent on going to war since arriving in office. Granted propaganda has been around as long as man has taken up arms. But in a war worth fighting (WW II comes to mind) the propaganda then seems somehow more palatable (if not always pleasant or right).

I hope teens (who I hope are smarter than I sometimes give them credit for) will see this video for what it is. A slick sales pitch designed to glamorize war, and suck them into the quagmire that is Iraq.

Wars are only glamorous (and profitable) to those who wage them, not to those who fight them.