Editor’s Note: Last night as I was getting ready for bed there came a scratching at my door. I opened it to find a gnome whom I assume was human. It was a tough call. His (or her) figure was draped in layer after layer of tattered burlap concealing any shape or form that might have betrayed its humanity. I might have mistaken it for a pile of rags except for the tip of a seborrheic nose peeking out from beneath the burlap. A begrimed fist parted the rags and thrust Belacqua’s letter into my hand. Then the figure turned and loped into the darkness, leaving only a fetid odor in its wake. There was nothing in or attached to Belacqua’s letter to indicate where he was.
Dear George,
Sometimes the beauty of it brings tears to my eyes. It is so elegant in its simplicity: Reichstag fire/twin towers. Truly, it goes around and comes around. But what is awe inspiring is how the sophistication it has grown, how the technique is so much more subtle. No Krystalnacht for you, George; only images flashing across the screen. No fiery oratory; only the well-turned sound byte. Your brilliance is a beacon that will illuminate the ages.
But, as with any bold new movement, there a minor adjustments that have to be made, wrinkles that have to be ironed out. Now, the success of the New American State (NAS) requires that we be kept in a state of perpetual conflict. You have brilliantly laid the ground work for this with your War on Terror, a war destined to go on forever. Someone once said the first casualty of war is the truth. What they forgot to mention is that the second casualty of war is civil liberties. Unity of purpose triumphs; security trumps freedom.
However, there is one small difficulty. War is losing its cachet. Once war was painted in brilliant colors. In the age of the artist, grand paintings depicted the glory of death in combat, the prone hero looking heavenward as angels gathered to lift him to his eternal reward. Tragically, the camera changed all that. Where the painting concealed gore, the camera magnified it. The call to glory remained strong through World War II, largely due to a careful filtering of the images released to the public. Death in combat was still seen as the shortest route to paradise.
In spite of the best management efforts, the horror of war eventually came through too vividly. The greatest mistake the Allies made was to allow photographs of dead bodies being bulldozed into trenches in the Nazi death camps. That changed everything.
Eisenhower picked up on this when he noticed that the Korean War was the first war in which there was no singing. Every war prior to that had produced songs that made their way into the public consciousness. Even today singing “Pack Up Your Troubles in Your
Old Kit Bag” brings tears to my eyes.
This revulsion towards war peaked with Vietnam where frigging camera crews were sticking their noses is places they had no business being. War’s gore found its way into America’s living room and America vomited.
I applaud the steps you have taken to prevent a repeat of this tragic event. Your embedding of correspondents into military units was a masterstroke. I can think of no better way to silence the press. Prohibiting photographs of flag-draped coffins of the returning dead was equally brilliant. Under your firm hand war is starting to regain its former glory.
But there is one final factor that must be incorporated into this equation. To initiate a war you need cheerleaders, individuals who can work the masses into a frenzied mob thirsty for the enemy’s blood. History shows that the people most qualified to fill this position are old men who have spent their lives avoiding combat, who have never seen blood unless they’ve nicked themselves shaving. They are the people your enemies call “Chicken Hawks,” today a term of derision, tomorrow a badge of patriotism. Your mission is to insure successive cohorts of emergent Chicken Hawks as replacements for the old men who pass to the other shore. There is simple formula for accomplishing this. When you institute the draft, as you will do in your second term, allow but one exemption. Exempt only those who scream the loudest for the enemy’s head. These are your future Chicken Hawks. Nurture them and bring them to maturity.
George, what a boon for our great nation eternal conflict will be. The Vikings had Odin, we have you.
Your admirer,
Belacqua Jones
8:08:10 AM 
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