Generation Kill: Desert brats are essential viewing

What we know so far about the war in Iraq has been gleaned from news reports and the occasional exposé in the tabloid press. The general consensus is that this is a war that should never have happened, but it did and, therefore, it behoves someone to make sense of it. Strangely enough, the men who have picked up the smoking gauntlet are David Simon and Ed Burns, the creative duo who brought us The Wire.

It is worth making a diversion here. The Wire was only shown in this country on a channel called FX, which is not the first port of call for those with cable attachments. The series dealt with the problems of a drug culture which flourishes in Baltimore. That may seem a distant region, but The Wire addressed problems endemic to all urban areas. When people have no hope and are reduced to scratching around for small change, the chances are they will resort to oblivion as a solution to a dreary life. Generation Kill has a sideways take on that theory: the disenfranchised youth who might become involved in a downward spiral of drug addiction join the military, a place where frustrations might be more fruitfully expressed.

This is not to suggest that they don't take drugs any more - although in Iraq, the opportunities are limited - just that they have a chance to go wild with the encouragement of an establishment that would otherwise lock them up. The problem is that Generation Kill casts them as the good guys. Not only are they the good guys, but they are better at shooting people. It is well documented that the Americans had all the best guns and were well dressed for combat in an arid environment, with killer shades and all sorts of designer gear. Yet, there is no real sense of a potent foe, one that knows the terrain and is adept at making deadly bombs out of the remains of supper.

Having said all that, Generation Kill is an essential piece of television. We know all about the motives of those who sent young men to a pointless war in the desert, yet we remain in ignorance about how those young men, devoid of a larger political perspective, dealt with their strange destiny.

This is, I believe, a family newspaper, so I must advise any squeamish parent to urge their children to stop reading now. OK, one of the characters says - and this is a programme full of salty dialogue - "it's lack of pussy that causes these wars". I do believe he has a point.

The first episode will be shown on Sunday 25 January on FX.