GENERATION KILL

I'm sure you've heard of it if you haven't seen it. HBO's new mini-series on the invasion of Iraq, from the personal experience of an embedded journalist.

It's touted as completley true. And may well be. I thought I caught a few false notes—like the only family photo they encounter on an Iraqi has a woman in a total burka (or however you spell that head-to-toe covering), though Iraq was the most secularized country in the Arab world at the time of the invasion (or one of the few of them), with very few women wearing even a veil, let alone the full burka.

Obviously some were in some areas. I'm not saying it isn't true, it's just not true to the bigger picture. But then, this is a very close-up view of one group of Marines and the reporter covering them. And as such, it's really pretty good.

In fact, it's one of those HBO experiences that's hard to match elsewhere. HBO hasn't been doing them as much, slipping to Showtime's version of what HBO started. But GENERATION KILL is worth watching, late at night when the kids aren't around. Though, these Marines aren't much more than kids themselves, come to think about it. As always.