I really love staying up late watching old war movies, Dirty Harry flicks, â??Casablancaâ?, and any movie based on a Tom Clancy novel.

Now, Dirty Harry hardly symbolizes the modern sensitive male. He's really clearly not my kind of guy. (Pink is my second favourite colour â?? next only to lavender.) And I don't think I'd be warmly welcomed to the crew of â??Run Silent, Run Deepâ? with a buff young Burt Lancaster and an all-male crew; I just don't exude that much machismo.

But these films all share a common thread â?? there is a clear cut villain. Dirty Harry is gonna find the bad-guy, and when he does, the punk will be evil through and though; there won't be any question. In Casablanca, we know the Nazis are the evil doers; the movie doesn't spend even a second convincing us of this. It's a given.

In the Hunt for Red October (or any Clancy book-turned-movie, and most movies Harrison Ford has ever starred in for that matter) the bad guys are clearly heartless terrorists trying to end the civilized world. No wiggle room for doubt.

I miss that clarity. The evening news certainly lacks it. The â??War on Terrorâ? (TM, Copyright 2001-2008 George W. Bush) had it .... and quickly lost it when they used it as an excuse for all sorts of nutty and / or sinister things â?? like invading Iraq (a nation that the Taliban considered too Western-ized and therefore "the infidel").

Our Canadian position in Afghanistan lacks that crystal moral clarity too, I'm afraid. For what it's worth, I do support the mission in Afghanistan, and despite being a die-hard Liberal, I really think that we are doing good there and should stay â?? and use military might, and not just in a non-combat role. I just wish it was less murky. For instance, summarizing a more lengthy CBC piece, it seems that a lot of the so-called combatants are, in fact, starving poor rural Afghans, who don't give a fig for the Taliban, who are being paid by the Taliban to fight for them. That sounds pretty mercenary, but if I was too poor to feed my children, how far would I go?

The old war movies â?? from â??The Guns of Navaroneâ? to â??The Dam Bustersâ? and even â??The Bridge Over the River Kwaiâ? â?? have that kind of clarity. I long for that. But, I admit, I have to wonder if it was ever really that clear?

Yes, Hitler was a bad 'un. Yes, the holocaust alone made stopping Hitler worth it. Yes, I think the allies were justified in doing most of the things they did; and yes, I am very very proud of the Canadian accomplishments, from our part in D-Day to the liberation of Holland.

No, nothing would appear to justify the vicious destruction of Dresden by the allies, and the murder of all the apparently peaceful men, women and children who lived there (read Slaughterhouse Five if you have not done so yet).

We have family friends who grew up in Germany during WWII. They emigrated to Canada shortly there after. They occasionally tell stories of their childhood. It isn't pretty. His family was wealthy, but apparently at odds with the establishment â?? and at one point the military told them to appear on their balcony at noon the next day, when they would be shot. They had no choice â?? they did troop out onto their balcony, expecting to be massacred. But for what ever reason, they didn't get shot. He was a small boy, and remembers this as the worst day of his life. She has similar nightmarish tales of near starvation, and so on.

Funny, how the majority of German people appear well fed, if they appear at all, in the old war movies.

Sad, how the average age of U-boat crews decreased so dramatically during the war, to the point where entire crews of children were sailing out to certain slaughter.

It's not just politics & the evening news that seem to lack clear, easy choices these days.

Take the I/T industry. There's nothing worth dying for, but there are parallels none the less â?? the testosterone-charged emotional battles of good vs. evil. Except, that just like the evening news, it's rarely all that clear cut. In the end you have a bunch of people, all of whom are well intentioned, struggling to do what is right for their customer / company / project or what have you.

In that sense I envy Microsoft executives. They have so many enemies! And by and large, their enemies do hate them and want nothing more than to crush Microsoft! Such a clear-cut battle of good vs. evil (although which is which depends on your point of view, apparently). To Bill and his buds, it's a no-brainer: a crusade worthy of the effort! Such moral clarity.

Ah well. It's been a while since I've seen â??Run Silent, Run Deepâ?. I have to see if I can pick up a DVD on e-bay, and watch Burt & the crew slip quietly past the â??Bongo Straitsâ? again.